Toegangsportaal van de Kathedraal van Reims before 1841

Editor: This is “Toegangsportaal van de Kathedraal van Reims,” or Entrance Portal of the Reims Cathedral, made before 1841 by Johann Hürlimann. It looks like an engraving, very detailed, almost photographic, in its depiction of Gothic architecture. The sheer density of sculpted figures is overwhelming. What draws your eye when you look at this? Curator: Overwhelming is the word! It's as if the stone itself gave birth to a teeming universe. But more than just visual density, I see a story whispered in every line, every shadow. Do you feel how the light, even in a print, seems to dance on the facade, bringing those figures to life? It’s less about stone, more about an entire cosmology etched onto paper. And look at the rose window! It's not just decoration. It’s the sun, filtered, interpreted, made digestible for earthly eyes. Editor: Absolutely. It feels like the light is actively animating the stone. Almost like it's breathing. Given the date, it's interesting to see this recorded before photography really took off. I’m used to seeing photos of Gothic cathedrals; here, the hand of the artist feels so present. Curator: Exactly! It's a memory, a felt experience. He’s not just recording; he’s interpreting. Hürlimann's lending us his gaze, letting us see not just the what but the how—how it felt to stand there, dwarfed by that incredible human creation. Do you get a sense of that overwhelming ambition in it too? That yearning? It really gets under my skin in the best way. Editor: Yes, that ambition definitely comes through. It makes me want to go see it for myself and experience the actual scale of it. Curator: Perhaps we should! Think of it - standing there, trying to decipher those same whispers. Thanks to Hürlimann we are primed to not only *see* but *feel* it anew.