Historical Builder › Cathedrals › Notre-Dame de Paris
How Long Did It Take to Build Notre-Dame de Paris?
Short answer: about 97 years, from 1163 to 1260.
The blacksmith Biscornet is said to have made a pact with the devil for the ironwork of the doors, which opened only after holy water was sprinkled on them.
What the sources say about the building period
Begun 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully; choir by c. 1177–82; west front c. 1225; largely complete by 1260; further work to 1345. Wikipedia Secondary source
Stone and crew in numbers
- Country and type
- France, cathedral
- Stone in the walls
- 50,000 to 80,000 m³ Estimate
- For comparison
- about 26 Olympic pools of stone, or 6,500 truckloads
- Average crew
- about 80 workers (model value: the crew that would need exactly this long, working without a break)
Volume basis: 6,000 m² footprint; vault 33 m; towers 69 m. Checked against measurements. Our estimates come from published dimensions and are shown as a range. The result is a simple model, not a measured fact.
Where the stone came from
Lutetian limestone from quarries in the former suburbs of Paris. Notre-Dame de Paris (official site) Official source
Plan
Legend: tradition, not evidence
The blacksmith Biscornet is said to have made a pact with the devil for the ironwork of the side doors. The doors opened only after holy water was sprinkled on them.
What we know: Viollet-le-Duc called the tale a popular story in 1861. The ironwork itself is real, and how it was made is still a puzzle.
Medievalists.net: the devil's blacksmith, Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné (1861) Tradition, not evidence
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