Under the balustrade, there is a wide horizontal frieze, the gallery of kings, a row of twenty-eight statues representing twenty-eight generations of kings of Judah, descendants of Jesse and human ancestors of Mary and Jesus. This part of the façade shows that Mary, a mortal woman born of the human race, gave birth to Jesus, who was both man and God. These painted statues were added to the cathedral in the first third of the 13th century and quickly became familiar representations of the kings of France. From 1284 onwards, they were presented in this way. And this tradition would be perpetuated throughout the centuries. This is why, during the troubled time of the Revolution, these statues would be attacked and mutilated as symbols of royal despotism.