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Middle school students put their spin on the north rose window of Notre Dame
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Students made a stained glass replica using thousands of tiny pieces of paper. - photo by Tom Reed

Ah, Paris.

It's lovely in the springtime, lovely in the fall. And once the new Gainesville Middle School opens in August, students will have the pleasure of having a piece of Paris in their midst the whole year through.

More than 200 Gainesville Middle School art students spent three weeks constructing a paper replica of the Notre Dame cathedral's celebrated north rose window. The replica is nearly 20 feet by 20 feet. Gainesville Middle School art teacher Mitch Freeman said it will be on permanent display at the new school building on Jesse Jewell Parkway this fall.

The real stained glass rose window is nestled between the two western towers that mark the entrance to one of the world's classic examples of high Gothic architecture.

Marlen Olivares, an eighth-grader at Gainesville Middle, said she knew of the window from Disney's movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Marlen said each student made a single pane from hundreds of tiny pieces of construction paper glued onto a black background. Freeman gave students a template with 17 intricate windows to use as a guide.

"We'd cut out little squares and just glue them and try to make little patterns," Marlen said. "(Freeman) showed us some pictures of it and told us to be creative. We made it how we wanted it to be. It has a little bit of everybody in it."

Freeman said he initiated the project to teach students about stained glass windows and mosaics. He said he didn't want the window to focus on one religion, and that's why he asked students to recreate the image of a red elephant rather than a cross in the center of the two-tiered panes.

Marlen said she was amazed when she saw the completed project for the first time.

"We didn't think it was going to be that big. It turned out really nice," she said.

Josue Aguilar, an eighth-grade art student at Gainesville Middle, said it was exciting to compile students' 18-inch long panes on the art room's center table.

"It was pretty cool because you could see other people's ideas," Josue said. "I think it's like a collage because everybody had something different on their mind while they were making it."

Some students created colorful designs in their pane's 17 windows, while others wove construction paper together or used hole-punched circles for a textured design.

Freeman said the project was the biggest he's overseen in his seven years as an art teacher.

He said with Gainesville Middle School's diverse student population, he tries to involve students in art projects with an international scope.

"The more cultures I bring into the classroom, the more students I can reach," he said.

Freeman also taught students about French history in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Notre Dame cathedral was constructed.

"What I explained to the students is that the church was the ruling body at the time," Freeman said. "... During the middle ages, the church was the main thing that kept nations together."

Although the Notre Dame de Paris, which means "the lady of Paris," is now deemed an architectural triumph and Parisian masterpiece, it began to fall into disrepair by the 19th century. Parisian officials even considered tearing down the grand cathedral and its revolutionary flying buttresses until 28-year-old French author Victor Hugo published "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1831.

Hugo penned the medieval tale of deformed Notre Dame cathedral warden Quasimodo and his ill-fated love for a beautiful gypsy dancer named Esmeralda. The novel sparked an interest in the fate of the cathedral and motivated Parisians to preserve "the lady of Paris."

Josue said for him, it was Disney's animation of Hugo's tale that helped give the rose window project some meaning.

"It makes me want to go see the real thing," he said. "I'd like to go to Paris and see the real window and the Eiffel Tower."