Notre Dame of Paris

Historian T. Koehler noted with great spiritual insight the relationship between the ambitious effort of building cathedrals, and the Virgin Mary herself:

"Cathedrals are the manifestation of a religious education program that guides the Church in her earthly pilgrimage, through catechetical announcements on its portals, salvation history painted on its stained glass windows, on its columns' capitals and the walls of its naves; a pilgrimage that ends at the altar in the sanctuary of the sacrifice of Christ, in communion with the God of resurrection. This program has a name: Our Lady, a model of the Church. Mary is the mediatrix, the queen, the mother, and can say the same one as the Church." [1]

No chapel was dedicated to the Virgin: the cathedral itself was the Virgin Mary.

"From their majestic portal, the great cathedrals dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary present a Marian catechesis of a Christocentric nature: the faithful pass from the outside world into the intimacy of the Church of Our Lady Mary, to be trained, educated, and led to the altar, the Eucharist, to union with God." [2]

The center of all is Jesus, but within the spiritual place that is Mary.

A splendid example is the Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris, presented by the official site. 

[1] T. KOEHLER, « Storia della mariologia », 5 volumes, centro Mariano Chaminade, Vercelli, 1971-1976, pp. 1394-1395.

[2] T. KOEHLER. Marja è il suo nome, Città Nuova, Roma, 1985, p. 91