Choir Screen Sculptures, Part 1: The Birth of Christ and the Start of the Passion

You have reached the choir screen. Many visitors walk straight past it, but this is worth a pause. A line of sculpture stretches off to your right: the medieval masterpiece known as the choir screen reliefs. They decorate the left and right walls of the choir, relative to the entrance. You will look at this side first, then see the crown of thorns, and on the way back out you will pass the sculptures on the right. One thing to know before you start looking: on this side, the story begins deep inside the cathedral's heart and flows back toward the entrance. If you simply look as you walk, you would read it backward, beginning with the death of Christ. So for now, enjoy the carvings only out of the corner of your eye and walk all the way in to where the story starts, at the crossing of the cathedral (the transept). Then read it from that end. This stone wall is, in effect, a Bible in stone, expressing the art and faith of the 14th century.

The screen was built in the 14th century to separate the choir stalls from the aisle where the faithful walked, creating a quiet space where the clergy, set apart from the outside world, could concentrate on the rite during Mass. Such screens were originally called jubés, and part of the jubé was actually discovered during restoration work after the 2019 fire. The name comes from the first word of the prayer a priest would begin with at Mass, "Jube, Domine, benedicere," or "Lord, grant your blessing."

These sculptures came from the hands of Pierre de Chelles in the early 14th century, and they portray the birth and life of Jesus and the beginning of his Passion. The story opens with the Visitation, in which Mary visits Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Next, an angel brings the good news to the shepherds, followed by the reverent scenes of Jesus's birth and the adoration of the Magi. After that come the Flight into Egypt, escaping King Herod's massacre of the infants; the young Jesus showing his wisdom before the teachers in the Temple; his baptism; his first miracle at the wedding at Cana; his entry into Jerusalem; the washing of the disciples' feet and the Last Supper; and finally his agony in the Garden of Olives. Jesus's public life and the opening of the Passion are carved here in dense detail. Take your time and compare the scenes with the Gospel accounts.