=The Triforium=, to which there are four staircases, is of immense size, owing to the fact that it passes over the double aisles on both sides of the nave. Its designers no doubt contemplated its use as a gallery from which the grand ceremonies which took place in the church could be witnessed by large numbers of people. It is ceiled with stone--a feature common to most of the greater cathedrals of France--so that no wooden beams can be seen anywhere in the building. This obviously increases the massiveness of the whole, though a certain tendency to heaviness is perhaps emphasised. The masonry is everywhere very fine, and in the small details a high degree of wise as opposed to futile finish is maintained throughout. The galleries are excellently lighted. Above the nave-aisles low pointed arches enclose a foliated circle, the corners at the base being filled with small trefoils. In the choir the lights consist of rose or wheel windows, in the tracery of which there is great variety of pattern. The openings towards the church take their place admirably in the elevation, being in character with the main arcade beneath and the clerestory above. They are almost austerely simple, and possess none of the ornateness which characterises the triforiums of Westminster, Lincoln, and other English buildings of slightly later date. A large plain pointed arch encloses two and in some cases three pointed arches, which are separated from one another by delicate columns bearing foliated capitals with square abaci. They have small square bases. These columns are a hundred and four in number. A low openwork railing of iron fills in the front of the gallery. The triforium goes round the whole building: that portion which is at the end of the transepts, however, consists of a narrow passage which is not open to the church. The banners which were captured by French armies were exhibited from the triforium so long as war continued. On the conclusion of peace, they were taken down--a proceeding which might be followed in other countries with advantage. The part of the triforium in the choir differs only in detail from that in the nave. Over the triforium come the vast windows, altered in the thirteenth century, which comprise the =Clerestory=, of which more is said on page 72. The stained glass will be fully discussed hereafter. [Illustration: THE TRIFORIUM GALLERY, OR “TRIBUNES.” (_From “Paris à travers les Ages.”_)]