The restoration of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    Video with full lighting: https://www.instagram.com/p/DC9WFotsUNc/

    Press pool photo from earlier this week:
    Notre Dame restored 112824.jpg
    2048 x 1365 - 827K
    Thanked by 5OMagnumMysterium CHGiffen Polyfollia M. Jackson Osborn tomjaw
  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 314
    It looks like one of the windows was replaced with something modern
    Thanked by 1LauraKaz
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    In the picture which you provide the interior looks white-washed!
    And the window which Monasteryliturgist points out is hideous.
    Thanked by 1LauraKaz
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,367
    Yeah. They cleaned it. But the lighting also seems to be improved.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,912
    At least 3 of Violet’s medieval-styled windows were removed and replaced. To be clear: they survived the fire just fine. But modernists are going to modern, so to speak.

    I rather like the cleaned and brightened interior, but the new liturgical furniture and chasubles are downright criminal. I think taking out the traditional stained glass should be punishable with prison time. But, they didn’t put me in charge. (Pity.)
    Thanked by 3tomjaw sdtalley3 OMagnumMysterium
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,199
    The altar looks like a black slice of orange. As one of my French friends noted, the new furniture is not affixed to the floor and can be removed in the future. It no doubt will as the current Archbishop of Paris has very little regard for tradition or beauty. Apparently the old altar ( just as ugly) survived and is going to Bourges.
    Thanked by 3LauraKaz CHGiffen tomjaw
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,912
    the current Archbishop of Paris has very little regard for tradition or beauty.
    that is plainly evident in the works he commissioned.
    Apparently the old altar ( just as ugly) survived and is going to Bourges.
    that's interesting; I heard it was destroyed since the spire fell directly on it. You're right though: it was also terribly ugly.

    What I cannot get over is the absolute incongruity of the new furniture relative to the room. Gothic space with some fantastic baroque additions, and they put the grossest of modern crap in it. The tabernacle is horrendous and not even gilt (and, we should mention, the previous one was untouched). It is a scandal, and unworthy of our Lord.
    Thanked by 6OMagnumMysterium LauraKaz CHGiffen tomjaw Chant_Supremacist Jacques Perrière
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,367
    It was repaired or in repairable shape.

    The thing about the Lustiger altar is that it’s shaped like a Romanesque altar. The sculpture elements do it no favors. The material is ugly. But because it was installed by Cardinal Lustiger, people could get behind keeping it, it’s just that destroying the Lustiger legacy is the order of the day.

    The good news is that everything original to the restoration period and pre-fire is in storage as it belongs to the French State and not to the church.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    I am not aware of any new windows having been installed. The results for the competition for design won't be revealed until December 8, and it's not clear if they will ultimately be installed to replace the 19th century grisaille pattern-work windows along the south aisle.
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,912
    I watched a news report in french that specifically mentioned that three leDuc-era windows had been removed and replaced with modern ones at the request of Macron. He apparently wanted to leave a modern mark on the restoration.

    A quick yahoogle led me to this article:

    https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-04/new-modern-stained-glass-windows-to-be-installed-in-notre-dame.html
    New modern-style stained-glass windows in six chapels
    Meanwhile, the French Government has recently appointed a special committee of experts chaired by Bernard Blistène, former director of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou Centre, to select the projects presented by artists for some of the modern style stained-glass to be installed in some of its windows.

    The idea of replacing the old glass with stained glass designed by contemporary artist was launched last year by Archbishop Ulrich to leave a mark of the restoration work, The proposal has been endorsed by President Emmanuel Macron, although it has met with some criticism.

    The government-appointed committee will have time until the end of May 2024 to examine the various projects which will have to meet very specific criteria. According to the specifications of the public tender, the glass works will have to produce a “neutral light, of the same nature, colour and intensity, as that currently provided by the current windows”.

    However, unlike the current arrangement, where only one of the seven chapels on the south side has “an historical” stained-glass window (the “Saint Thomas Aquinas” chapel housing a window depicting the Tree of Jesse, which will remain as it is), the six new stained-glass windows should be figurative, whereas those produced in the late 19th century under the direction of French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc only represented floral and geometric motifs.

    Under the sign of the Holy Spirit
    The directives also require that the windows which will adorn the “Pentecost alley” formed by the south aisle, be consistent with this theme and offer a “sober representation” of the biblical event.

    In choosing the colours artists are also advised to take into account the stained-glass window of the Tree of Jesse (representing the he human genealogy of Jesus from King David's father to Mary, ed.) which will be placed in the middle between the contemporary stained-glass windows, as well as the “light blondness of the stone of Notre-Dame”.

    New windows to be installed in 2026
    A first selection will take place in June 2024, before the final choice in November. The new windows will not be installed before 2026, but a prototype will be presented for the reopening of Notre-Dame on December 8.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen tomjaw
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,912
    As a followup, this article names the finalist designers:
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/plans-to-modernize-notre-dames-stained-glass-windows-move-ahead-despite-heritage-experts-rejection-180985070/

    Here's one that looks to be as talented as the guy who did the horrendous chasubles: https://www.artsy.net/artist/jean-michel-alberola

    Daniel Buren doesn't inspire much hope, either.

    I know one thing—this isn't the type of spirituality I want inflicting itself upon believers: https://www.artsy.net/artist/yan-pei-ming Creepy as all get out.

    So, I will stop there. I shouldn't be surprised. Disappointment upon disappointment. At least the structure itself was preserved and left better than before. I'll just have to be happy for that (and it was no mean feat, so I have more than little reason to be contented).
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen tomjaw LauraKaz
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    There were some modern geometric windows installed in the mid-20th century after the windows that were removed for WW2 were gradually reinstalled.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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