Editing Calais (section)

===Église Notre-Dame===
[[File:Église_Notre-Dame_de_Calais_2012_1.jpg|thumb|right|Église Notre-Dame]]
[[Église Notre-Dame de Calais|Église Notre-Dame]] is a great church which was originally built in the late 13th century and its tower was added in the late 14th or early 15th century. Like the town hall it is one of the city's most prominent landmarks. It was arguably the only church in the English perpendicular style in France.<ref name="CWSndc">{{Cite web|title=Notre Dame Church|url=http://www.calais.ws/EgliseDeNotreDame.htm|access-date=5 February 2012|publisher=Calais.ws|first1=June|first2=Len|last1=Riddell|last2=Riddell|archive-date=1 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201224324/http://www.calais.ws/EgliseDeNotreDame.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Much of the current 1400 capacity church dates to 1631–1635.<ref name="CWSndc" /> It contains elements of Flemish, Gothic, Anglo-Norman and Tudor architecture. In 1691, an 1800 cubic metre [[cistern]] was added to the church under orders by [[Vauban]].<ref name="CGndc">{{Cite web |title=Notre Dame Church |url=http://www.calais-guide.co.uk/sights/notredame-church.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105012410/http://www.calais-guide.co.uk/sights/notredame-church.html |archive-date=5 January 2012 |access-date=5 February 2012 |publisher=Calais Guide.co.uk}}</ref> The church is dedicated to the Virgin, and built in the form of a cross, consisting of a nave and four aisles—<ref name="Calton1852">{{Cite book |last=Calton |first=Robert Bell |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_t8snAAAAYAAJ |title=Annals and legends of Calais |publisher=J. R. Smith |year=1852 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_t8snAAAAYAAJ/page/n98 89] |access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> The old grand altar dated to 1628 and was built from Carrara marble wrecked on the coast, during its transit from [[Genoa]] to [[Antwerp]]. It contained eighteen figures, the two standing on either side of the altar-piece—representing [[St. Louis]] and [[Charlemagne]].<ref name="Calton1852" /> The organ—of a deep and mellow tone, and highly ornamented by figures in relief—was built at [[Canterbury]] sometime around 1700. The pulpit and reading-desk, richly sculptured in oak, is another well-executed piece of ecclesiastical workmanship from [[Saint-Omer|St. Omer]]. The altar-piece, the Assumption, was often attributed to [[Anthony van Dyck]], though in reality it is by [[Gerard Seghers]]; whilst the painting over the side altar, once believed to be by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]<ref name="Calton1852" /> is in fact by [[Pieter Van Mol]]. A high and strongly built wall, partaking more of the fortress than a cathedral in its aspect, flanks the building, and protects it from the street where formerly ran the old river, in its course through Calais to the sea.<ref name="Calton1852" />

The square, massive Norman tower has three-arched belfry windows on each face, surmounted by corner turrets, and a conically shaped tower of octagonal proportions, topped again by a short steeple. The tower was a main viewing point for the [[Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790)]] which linked the [[Paris Observatory]] with the [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]] using [[trigonometry]]. Cross-channel sightings were made of signal lights at [[Dover Castle]] and [[Fairlight, East Sussex]].

The church was assigned as a historic monument by decree of 10 September 1913, only to have its stained glass smashed during a Zeppelin bombardment on 15 January 1915, falling through the roof.<ref name="MFPM2010">{{Cite book |last=Michelin / MFPM |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1F1kHo5cZTkC&pg=PA106 |title=Nord Pas-de-Calais Picardie |publisher=Michelin |year=2010 |isbn=978-2-06-714775-1 |page=106}}</ref><ref name="Information quarterly">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmI9AAAAYAAJ |title=Information quarterly |publisher=R.R. Bowker |year=1916}}</ref> General de Gaulle married Yvonne Vendroux on 6 April 1921 at the cathedral.<ref name="CGndc" /> The building experienced extensive damage during World War II, and was partially rebuilt, although much of the old altar and furnishings were not replaced.