Why cathedrals like Notre Dame are not a vainglorious extravagance During the Middle Ages, when all those mediaeval SUVs made the weather worldwide rather warmer than it is today, Notre Dame and the other great cathedrals of Europe were built. It had recently become fashionable in some circles to condemn these magnificent symphonies in stone as mere “ecclesiastical plant” – a vainglorious extravagance whose original building cost and subsequent maintenance costs would have been better deployed in feeding the poor. … Read More