PARIS (ChurchMilitant.com) – The announcement by France’s president that historic stained-glass windows in Notre-Dame Cathedral are to be replaced is sparking outrage.
A 2019 fire spared the windows of the Paris cathedral
More than 82,000 people have signed a petition, launched on Sunday by the La Tribune de l’Art, to push back against Emmanuel Macron’s effort to replace historic stained-glass windows in Our Lady’s cathedral in Paris with modern ones.
The ornate windows, designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the renowned French architect who led restoration efforts of the medieval structure in the 19th century, were left undamaged in the 2019 fire that devastated much of the church.
The petition’s organizers say their effort is “apolitical and simply seeks to avoid an artistic massacre that is at risk with this new initiative.” They added that removing the iconic ornamentation “undermines the historical integrity of this age-old monument that is the pride of our capital and remains a living testimony to the technical genius and prestigious past of our country.”
On Dec. 8, Macron declared that Viollet-le-Duc’s stained-glass windows, which were expected to remain in place, would be replaced by windows carrying “the brand of the 21st century.” He was touring the cathedral site, now under reconstruction, when he made the pronouncement.
The French media has reported that Paris’ archbishop, Laurent Ulrich, is behind Macron’s decision.
“I hope that we will be able to see some new stained-glass windows in one or the other chapels of Notre-Dame,” the archbishop wrote to the president on Dec. 4. “These stained-glass windows would replace old works by Viollet-le-Duc in one of the side chapels of the nave.”
Abp. Laurent Ulrich
The archbishop also suggested to the French president that a contest of competing artists be launched to elicit designs for the new windows.
The proposal for including contemporary stained-glass windows is not new. In 2020, the diocese of Paris drafted an interior design project that included the suggestion, but well-placed opposition managed to scuttle the project.
At the time, then-minister of culture Roselyne Bachelot explained that “France signed the Venice Convention of 1964, which makes it absolutely impossible to remove the stained-glass windows and replace them with modern works,” Bachelot insisted. “This, to me, is inadmissible and contrary to the conventions we have signed.”
According to a recent article in a French daily, the current minister of culture, Rima Abdul Malak, does not disagree with the president’s plan and is “standing by his side.”
The organizers of the petition say the replacement of Viollet-le-Duc’s windows that survived the fire “constitutes vandalism.” They add, “The emotion that spread throughout the world during the fire in 2019, and in particular when the spire of Viollet-le-Duc collapsed, demonstrates that this monument does not belong only to the French, and certainly not to the President of the Republic, who has no legitimacy in this area.”
La Tribune de l’Art recommends that Macron, “who with his predecessors bears responsibility in the disaster that struck Notre-Dame de Paris … should show more modesty” and seek to “reunite the French, rather than to divide them once again.”