Gallery, Nôtre-Dame Cathedral, Paris 1853

Charles Meryon etched this view of the gallery of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris sometime in the mid-19th century. The pointed arches and slender columns embody a reaching towards the divine, a hallmark of Gothic architecture. Here, a lone bird flies past, a symbol laden with cross-cultural significance. Throughout history, birds have served as omens, messengers, and personifications of the soul. This motif, ever-present in art, echoes through antiquity, appearing in Egyptian hieroglyphs as the spirit of the deceased, and in classical myths as divine messengers. This visual language is not linear but cyclical. Consider, for instance, the raven—often a harbinger of ill fortune in Western lore, yet revered as a guide in other cultures. The cathedral, too, is a stage for the interplay of light and shadow, mirroring the perpetual dance between hope and despair. This dialectic shapes our understanding of symbols, reminding us of the subconscious forces that drive our interpretations across time.