Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

Construction initiated in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and largely completed by 1260. A pioneering triumph of the Gothic style, it was among the first buildings in the world to incorporate exterior flying buttresses.

The cathedral stands as a stone vessel moored on the Seine, its Western Rose Window acting as a cosmic mandala encoding medieval Christian cosmological harmonies.

Esoteric traditions claim the ironwork hinges of the three main entrance portals were forged by the devil himself for blacksmith Biscornet in exchange for his soul.