Renovation, Restoration and Rebirth: A Notre-Dame Audio Tour

Overview

Notre-Dame de Paris has watched over generations of changing artistic tastes, political upheaval, and religious practices. On this self-guided audio tour, you’ll find out how the UNESCO World Heritage site has evolved through nearly nine centuries of construction, destruction, and rebirth. Your guide on this audio tour is Lindsey Hansen, a Context Travel expert and art historian specializing in medieval French Gothic architecture. The tour takes you through Notre-Dame's most significant spaces, including the central nave and the ambulatory chapels with their funerary monuments for France’s elite. During the tour, you’ll learn to spot the difference between original medieval elements, later additions, and recent restorations. You’ll be taught to ”read” the cathedral’s complex history through its architecture. This tour offers a rare opportunity to trace Notre-Dame’s 900-year evolution, from its medieval origins to its post-fire restoration.