With less than six months to go before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is due to reopen, the controversy surrounding the restoration of the building hit by a violent fire in April 2019 continues unabated. After the highly controversial choice of liturgical furnishings, it is now the stained glass windows’ turn to cause a stir. There are plans to remove some of the 19th-century stained glass windows and replace them with contemporary ones. The heritage committee is unanimously in favour of them being maintained, but the minister for culture does not seem inclined to listen to its advice.
A few months ago, President Emmanuel Macron spoke out in favour of removing a series of so-called grisaille stained glass windows dating from the 19th century and designed by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, located in the nave of the cathedral, in favour of new windows designed by contemporary artists. He was supported in this initiative by the archbishop of Paris, Msgr. Ulrich, who was also in favour of a ‘contemporary gesture’ as part of the restoration of Notre Dame.
The project provoked fierce opposition in France and abroad. The website La Tribune de l’Art, which specialises in preserving France’s heritage against all forms of private and public vandalism that threaten it, launched a petition to oppose the project, which attracted almost 150,000 signatures in the space of a few days. The man behind the petition, Didier Rykner, explained in December 2023:
We are in favour of preserving the 19th-century fittings at Notre-Dame de Paris because they have great heritage value, because they withstood the fire and have even been restored, because they form part of a coherent architectural whole and, finally, for those who would be put off by these obvious facts, because they are protected by a historic monument classification, which implies, according to the law, their ‘conservation because they present a public interest from the point of view of history or art.’
Following the petition, the Commission nationale du patrimoine et de l’architecture (CNPA), a public body under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, took up the issue. Although it was not due to be consulted until November, i.e., after the winning artist had been chosen for the contemporary stained glass project, it chose to speed up its timetable, and on July 11th ruled against the installation of stained glass windows to replace those by Viollet-le-Duc. The commission’s decision was unambiguous: it voted unanimously to reject the project. Such unanimity is very rare.
The commission’s opinions are normally purely consultative. But the message sent is very clear: the contemporary developments desired by the President of the Republic and the Archbishop of Paris have no place in the restoration of Notre Dame.
Despite the clarity of the signal sent out, it would unfortunately seem that we should be wary of rejoicing too quickly. Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture who came from the centre-right and has been poached by Emmanuel Macron, who may support her as a candidate for mayor of Paris, clearly has no intention of listening to the commission’s wise advice, as can be seen from a press release issued by her office shortly after the announcement of the unfavourable opinion. It essentially explains that the project is going ahead and that the commission will be consulted again in a few months’ time, once the artist who created the stained glass has been chosen.
It is interesting to note that one of the groups of artists who were to take part in the selection, respecting the commission’s choice, has indicated that they are withdrawing from the race—which is to their credit, as they demonstrate their great respect for heritage and its preservation.
Rachida Dati’s decision to go ahead could be challenged in the administrative court, given that the commission delivered an opinion unanimously by its members. This attitude can only be a cause for concern, coming from a woman who aspires to replace the socialist Anne Hidalgo at the head of France’s capital, but who has already demonstrated, by leaving the Right to join the government, her astonishing ability to sacrifice a few convictions to her personal ambition. Parisians are definitely out of luck—and heritage is once again being sacrificed on the altar of contemporary ideology.