Restoring Faith: Notre-Dame de Paris Enters a New Era
In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit the French Gothic masterpiece of ‘Our Lady of Paris’ after its restoration.
The west façade of Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) cathedral in Paris, on Dec. 7, 2024. Over five years, some 250 companies and hundreds of experts restored the cathedral after fire ravaged the UNESCO World Heritage building in 2019. The two 76 yards tall towers house the bronze bells and the bourdon Emmanuel bell cast in 1686. Three portals on the lower part of the façade house stone carvings depicting biblical scenes of (L) the Virgin; The Last Judgement; and Saint Anne. Twenty-eight stone figures represent the 28 generations of Judean kings before Christ. In front of the center of the rose window, a stone statue of the Virgin is flanked by two angels symbolizing “fault” and “redemption” to all those who enter. Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
On April 15, 2019, as the world watched fire ravage the Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris in English), people wondered if the beloved cathedral would ever be the same. Now, after five years of restoration, the holy French Gothic masterpiece graces the Paris skyline anew.
It took some 250 companies and hundreds of experts to restore the cathedral. As Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society; rather the offspring of a nation’s effort, than the inspired flash of a man of genius.” People around the world donated more than $882 million to help.
A Medieval Treasure
Around 1160, the bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, commissioned the Notre-Dame in honor of the Virgin Mary. Pope Alexander III laid the cathedral’s cornerstone in 1163, and although most of the building was completed by the end of the 12th century, the cathedral took nearly two centuries, until 1345, to finish.
The key elements of the cathedral’s French Gothic architecture are pointed arches, slender columns, ribbed vaulting (featuring a framework of arches resembling ribs), and flying buttresses (external structural supports). Experts believe the flying buttresses saved the cathedral from complete collapse during the fire.
Throughout its 860-year history, the Notre-Dame has undergone much destruction and renewal, most notably its desecration during the French Revolution of the 1790s. In the 1840s, architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc repaired, restored, and made new additions to the cathedral, while staying true to its Medieval roots.
Restoring Notre-Dame
The 2019 fire toppled the Notre-Dame’s spire and destroyed the framework, the roof, and three sections of the vault (a self-supporting arched form covering interior spaces with a ceiling). Remarkably, the Great Organ survived, as did many of the paintings, furniture, and stained-glass windows.
Experts analyzed the original stonework to guide the sourcing of material—around half an Olympic-size swimming pool of stone—for use in the restoration. They found that La Croix-Huyart quarry, in Bonneuil-en-Valois, northern France, was the only quarry with hard stone suitable for reconstructing the vault arches and restoring the walls. Eight quarries in the regions of Saint-Maximin, in southeast France, and Soissons, in northern France, provided the softer stones for restoring the interior stonework, and repairing and reconstructing the vaults.
Foresters selected and felled 1,000 oak trees across France to restore the medieval framework of the nave, choir, and spire. Carpenters across the country carved each tree using 13th-century and 19th-century techniques, where appropriate.
Eight teams of master stained-glass artisans, trained in centuries-old traditions, restored and cleaned all the stained glass.
Sculptors and stonecutters worked on the cathedral site in a hall known as the sculptor’s lodge, just as their Medieval counterparts would have done.
The cathedral’s architect, Philippe Villeneuve, told AP: “This wasn’t just about restoring a building. This was about restoring the heart of France.”
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral’s South Rose window illuminated at night, on Nov. 26, 2024. All the cathedral’s stained glass was cleaned in the restoration, bringing an additional brilliance to the biblical scenes the panes conveyed. Louis IX, King of France, later canonized as St. Louis, commissioned the nearly 42-foot-wide and almost 63-foot-tall window in 1260. It features 84 panels depicting the Last Judgement. In the center, Christ is surrounded by angels and 10 virgins, accompanied by saints, Apostles, bishops, confessors, deacons, female martyrs, and knights. Kiran Ridley/AFP via Getty Images
These two images show the choir stalls of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on June 26, 2018 (top), and on Nov. 29, 2024, after the Cathedral’s restoration. Ludovic Marinstephane de Sakutin/AFP/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The Great Organ of Notre-Dame de Paris remained largely unscathed from the fire; only one pipe was water-damaged. It’s the largest church organ in France—its longest pipes measure nearly 32 feet. Organ builders restored the organ’s nearly 8,000 pipes individually. They also replaced the leather pieces that control airflow inside the pipes. Organ tuners took six months to finely tune the organ to fit the cathedral’s acoustics. Stephane de Sakutin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The freshly cleaned interior of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris, on Nov. 29, 2024. The nave wall, shows (top to bottom) clerestory windows, the triforium (open gallery), and side aisle openings. Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
This aerial photograph shows a crane next to the nearly 99-foot-tall spire of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, on Nov. 25, 2024. True to Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc’s 1859 design, the replica spire consists of a solid-oak frame covered with a layer of lead and adorned with lead-cast ornaments, including chimera, gargoyles, and 200 crockets (hooks that look like a bishop's crook-shaped crosier). Eight lead eagles known as “Grand ducs” stand guard at the base of the spire, protecting the monument from birds of prey. Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral opens to the public on Sunday, Dec. 8, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, marking the day of the Virgin Mary’s conception without sin. To find out more, visit NotreDamedeParis.fr
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Lorraine Ferrier
Author
Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.
