Do it Different Fridays: 3D puzzle of Notre Dame

Notre Dame took 200 years to complete, started in 1163 by Bishop Maurice de Sully.   It was finally completed in 1345 It was built in the gothic style.  The whole town seemed to get involved in the building, from the finances needed, to labour, to expertise in design and what not.  It has become an icon of Paris. 

Some facts about Notre Dame:

• .1160 Maurice de Sully (named Bishop of Paris) orders the original cathedral demolished.
• 1163 Cornerstone laid for Notre-Dame de Paris; construction begins.
• 1182 Apse and choir completed.
• 1196 Bishop Maurice de Sully dies.
• c.1200 Work begins on western facade.
• 1208 Bishop Eudes de Sully dies. Nave vaults nearing completion.
• 1225 Western facade completed.
• 1250 Western towers and north rose window completed.
• c.1245–1260s Transepts remodelled in the Rayonnant style by Jean de Chelles then Pierre de Montreuil
• 1270  the Parisians watched over the body of the King, Saint Louis, who died in Tunis;
• 1250–1345 Remaining elements completed.
• 1302 King Philip the Fair opened the first Estates General of the Kingdom of France
• 1572, it was here that King Henry IV married Marguerite de Valois
• 1594 King Henry IV converted to Catholicism 
• 1804 it is where Pope Pius VII crowned Napoleon I Emperor of the French
• it was also at Notre-Dame that the Te Deum was sung at the end of the First and Second World Wars;

It is located on a small island called the Ile de la Cite in the middle of river Seine.

Notre Dame Cathedral which can also be called “our lady” is still in use today by the Roman Catholic Church for Sunday mass and it is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. A notable and distinct historical artefact which is very popular today is the famous bell that has been redesigned to ring automatically. Any visitor to the bell tower should be prepared to climb the 140 steps staircase, if desirous of seeing the historical bell or have a glimpse of the city of Paris.

 Also inside the Notre Dame Cathedral, among so many historical artefacts, is the notable 17th century organ with all of its parts still functional.

We learned a few things about Notre Dame and then we built it.  :)   NO.. not the actual building took 200 years remember  :) but a 3-D puzzle of it.

We made this puzzle:

 I liked how the pieces were clearly marked, and made on sturdy material. They were easy to punch out and match with the clearly marked directions.

 

Do you see how clear the instructions are?   My son found them very easy to follow, and even corrected my decisions a couple of times.   His only complaint about putting together this puzzle was that some of the slots for sliding the pieces together are a bit too small, but they were easily made bigger using the utensil it comes with.

 Putting the puzzle together.

It was a lot of fun putting this together with my lad, even though at times, my somewhat ill lad would get impatient with the finickiness of some of the pieces.

It was a good way for us to connect again after weeks of illness and kinda just doing our own thing.

 Once again I thought about Educents and how it's having a sale this weekend and thought I'd see what they had about Notre Dame and France.  It would appear that they  have some 74 products you can choose from.  Going to link up a couple just so you can see what they have.  These are affiliate links that just help support us.

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