Rebuilding a bit of St. Denis

That was interesting, thanks for sharing. We’ve seen stonemasons at work in the buttresses of Köln’s cathedral too. I can’t believe they weren’t wearing protective goggles at St. Denis!

Thanks , Eric ! This reminded me of a visit to York Cathedral ,a few years ago . As part of a major restoration project , there was a mason's workshop set up next to the work site . About fifteen , highly trained and skilled stonemasons were creating replacement blocks , many with highly intricate carvings . All done by hand and eye , nary a power tool to be seen !

We saw a team working on the church in La Souterraine in La Creuse département. France has training schools for stonemasons and carvers; a lot of immigrant Italian and French stone carvers did the work we see in the States.

What a wonderful project...I love this and I love that they are introducing the local residents (and others) to the crafts.

I've always wanted to take a tour of the Stonemason's Yard at Salisbury Cathedral. It was an occasional tour they offered but I don't see it listed now on the Cathedral's website, so probably has been suspended due to Covid.

I am always fascinated at Saint-Denis because down in the crypt there are so many carvings that are at eye level. I spent a lot of time down there last October looking at the various images. I think my favorite probably represents some kind of corruption or bribe as it is a carving of a man surreptitiously handing a something back to a robed figure behind him. So very interesting!

Thanks Eric, for the link.