ond mere buildings and to the status of art. In this light, the buildings can now be admired quite like a painting or a sculpture in respect to the composition and placement of key components that come together to make the glorified whole.One significant part of any building is its door. How the interior is transferred into the exterior is very important. Stepping through the doorway of a door is much like the thought of stepping between a portal in between two realms. One of the most graceful examples of this transition is illustrated through the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris north transept. A string of events and thoughts occurs to the viewer when approaching the gothic cathedrals northern transept. We see the gigantic faade of the Church. Curiosity invites us into the structure through the tremendous stained-glass rose. We see the rose, darkened because of the absence of light not coming from the inside of the church. Automatically, the mind imagines the point of view one would have from inside the cathedral while witnessing the light pass through the beautifully colored glass. Another way that we are invited to step through the portal is through the fact that the portal offers a space that is not totally outside nor inside, providing a smooth transition. The portal has a roof so that if we walk under this roof we are not subjected to the elements and are not yet fully exposed to the splendor awaiting us inside. The portal becomes just this: a doorway between two universes, one of heavenly proportions and the earthly one that we leave behind as we walk in. Next, we are presented with the north transept door. As we look up we see the tympanum containing the story of the early life of Christ and the legend of Theophilus. The tympanum is made in a traditional style as far as tympanums go in the sense that it is made up of three layers, with the characters getting bigger as you go up. The history contained in this tymp...
