• the year 1345 saw both the completion of the Notre Dame de Paris (pictured) and the writing of important works on Buddhist cosmology?
• besides utility poles (example pictured), anonymous knitters from Knitta have also left their tags on the Great Wall of China and the Notre Dame de Paris?

Facts on topics related to Notre Dame de Paris

Louvre

• Théodore Chassériau's painting of his sister Aline Chassériau, now in the Louvre, was painted when he was 16 and she was 13?
• the Louvre describes Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle as the most beautiful ronde-bosse ivory carving ever made?
• the Dendera zodiac (pictured), an ancient relief on display at the Louvre, was originally a planisphere on the ceiling of a temple in Egypt?
• the American Classic Arcade Museum located at Funspot has been called "the Louvre of the '8-bit' world"?

Sainte-Chapelle

• the Byzantine chapel of the Theotokos of the Pharos at Constantinople housed a huge collection of holy relics, many of which were acquired by Louis IX of France for his Sainte-Chapelle?

Paris

• 16th-century English diplomat Francis Bryan disgraced himself by throwing eggs and stones at the common people during a mission to Paris?
• French anarchist Theodule Meunier, responsible for several bombings in Paris in 1902, was featured as a Sherlock Holmes antagonist in René Réouven's L'Assassin du Boulevard?
• Bandung in Indonesia was dubbed the "Paris of Java" (Parijs van Java) in the 1920s due to the European ambience of Braga Street?
• Honoré de Balzac once observed that "the heart of Paris today beats between rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin and rue du Faubourg Montmartre"?
• Mexican cuisine celebrity chef and author Marcela Valladolid has also been classically trained as a pastry chef in Paris?
• Paris currently has more than 360 working fountains, including one, the Fontaine des Innocents (pictured), in use since the 16th century?
• Paris has held six BIE-sanctioned world's expositions, but the most recent was in 1937?
• Paris-based Naye Prese was the sole Yiddish-language communist daily newspaper in Europe during the interbellum period?
• Peter Paul Rubens produced a series of paintings depicting episodes from Marie de' Medici's life for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris?
• Philippe Égalité's Château du Raincy near Paris contained an outcrop of houses scored to resemble traditional Russian log huts?

Pope John Paul II

• Pope Benedict XVI received George W. Bush this month in a medieval tower where Pope John Paul II resided temporarily while his papal apartments were being remodeled?
• Pope John Paul II placed rosary devotions (example pictured) at the very center of Christian spirituality and called them "among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation"?
• Pope John Paul II traveled more than all his predecessors combined?
• press agent Lee Solters had Pope John Paul II made an honorary Harlem Globetrotter, represented Frank Sinatra for decades and claimed to have known client Dolly Parton "since she was flat-chested"?
• Jacques-Désiré Laval (pictured), a Spiritan missionary to Mauritius, was the first person beatified by Pope John Paul II?
• one of those killed in the mass murders in Piaśnica, Sister Alicja Kotowska, was beatified together with 107 other victims of Nazi terror in 1999 by Pope John Paul II?
• retired Sacramento bishop Alden John Bell was stabbed in his office while preparing for a trip to see Pope John Paul II?
• the Baroque church of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi (pictured), which houses the hearts of 25 popes, was presented to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church by Pope John Paul II?
• the postage stamps of the Palestinian National Authority have featured many well-known figures, but those with Pope John Paul II might be fake illegal stamps?
• the Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, a book of Aztec herbal remedies in Latin, was returned to Mexico by Pope John Paul II after more than four centuries of changing hands in Europe?

Eiffel Tower

• Nağaybäk Tatars of Russia constructed their own Paris, with Eiffel Tower?
• the 14th name on one side of the Eiffel Tower is the engineer Charles Combes?

Catholic Church

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli was once thought to have been composed to convince the Council of Trent not to ban polyphonic music from the Catholic Church?
• ordinary salt may be blessed by Catholic priests and used as a protective sacramental?
• Callistus Valentine Onaga oversees a microbank as part of his position as a Roman Catholic bishop in Nigeria?
• Charles Langdale was one of the first Roman Catholics in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following the passing of the Catholic Relief Act 1829?
• Professor Ivor Browne was denounced as antagonistic towards the Catholic Church after he came out in support of the mistress of Fr. Michael Cleary?
• Ludwig Schwarz, the Roman Catholic bishop of Linz, Austria, has a doctorate in classical philology and archeology from the University of Vienna?
• Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge is one of the largest Catholic churches in United Kingdom?
• Pino Puglisi was a Roman Catholic priest in the deprived Palermo neighbourhood of Brancaccio who was killed by the Sicilian Mafia?
• Tacchi Venturi, the personal liaison between Mussolini and the popes, was the architect of the Lateran Treaty, which created Vatican City and made Catholicism the state religion of Italy?
• after the six year study A Christian reflection on the New Age, the Catholic Church rejected all that is close to the New Age?

France

• "4 Mots sur un piano", which deals with the theme of a romantic relationship between two men and one woman, was the fifth best-selling single of 2007 in France?
• 11-year old Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein is regarded by Jacobites as third in line for the throne of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland?
• 18th century Franco-Portuguese industrialist Jácome Ratton (pictured) left a vivid account of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in his memoirs and was exiled to the Azores during the Napoleonic Wars?
• 18th century French artilleries were the most efficient at cannon operation (pictured), capable of firing 150 shots per cannon daily during siege?
• 18th century French salons were often led by those who were creating the Encyclopédie?
• footballer Edward King was honored for heroism in the Philippines and tactical skill in France and later became Commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College?
• Cambodia's Mongkol Borei District was part of Thailand until the French demanded it back in 1907?
• Camille Le Mercier d'Erm and his colleagues formed the Breton Nationalist Party in 1911 to advocate the independence of Brittany from France?
• Catherine II's Instruction to the Legislative Assembly was banned in pre-revolutionary 18th-century France as a "libertarian book"?
• cinematographer Lawrence Sher first developed an interest in photography after his father convinced him to take a 35mm camera on a Teaneck High School-sponsored trip to France?