Notre Dame de Strasbourg

The year was 2008. My friends and I were dead tired after 10 days of touring France (mostly Paris and its surroundings), so I think you can understand our not-so-enthusiastic faces when our teacher announced on the speakerphone (all this at the exact moment I managed to fall asleep) that we are stopping in Strasbourg to see the Cathedral. Needless to say, as soon as we arrived and this “thing” got into my range of vision, I was instantly wide awake and couldn’t take my eyes of this majestic beauty.

(yep, this is kind of how you can see it from its feet)

Wikipedia says:

“Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest still-standing structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.

Described by Victor Hugo as a “gigantic and delicate marvel”, and by Goethe as a “sublimely towering, wide-spreading tree of God”, the cathedral is visible far across the plains of Alsace and can be seen from as far off as the Vosges Mountains or the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine.

Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late, Gothic architecture. “

It is truly ravishing and is necessarily worth a visit if you’re nearby. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been fascinated by majestic buildings which have great history behind them. The way they are built and the way they’ve survived hard and rough times tell a lot of stories of the city itself and its natives. Maybe this is a naive affirmation, but I think that once you look at a city’s church you can tell a lot of who frequent it. Anyways, I’ll leave you with a few more shots my dear friend, Timea Radu took. A final advice: if you get the chance, don’t hesitate on checking it out! Have a nice weekend! 😀