Well, so maybe no one else thinks this is fascinating or even a bit interesting.  😉  I'll explain a bit more.The sculpture on portals of Gothic cathedrals was painted, and so images that we have in mind of either darkened or stone-colored facades is not all that accurate in terms of how people would have experienced these places in the Middle Ages.  Rather than being bastions of gloom, the colors on these portals could have been bright, eye-popping which give more of a sense of a candy-coated exterior rather than the drab coverings that we're used to seeing.Something that's interesting is that the drab exteriors (i.e. after the paint had fallen off) are what probably affected the neo-Gothic sentiments of Brits and Americans in the 19th century.  Would writers like Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, or Victor Hugo have arrived at the same storylines had they viewed Gothic cathedrals in the more "cheery" light as they were originally presented?The photos above show the same cathedral (but different portals at Amiens).  Researchers know what kind of hues were used on the sculptural program there, and every so often they have displays at night when they shoot colored lasers at the facade to make it appear like it did when it was painted.  Hence, the bottom photo.  Interesting stuff!