The Archdiocese of Paris has just announced its plans for the
redevelopment of Notre-Dame de Paris, which will be submitted to the
CNPA (National Commission for Heritage and Architecture) on 13 July.
Fortunately, what is presented is a far cry from the initial proposal,
and it seems that the new archbishop, Laurent Ulrich, has succeeded in
his bid to find a consensual solution that will not provoke debate among
heritage lovers.
First of all, a very important point: the projections in the side
chapels, and the creation of new works that would be installed there,
necessarily in competition with those that already exist, seem to have
been abandoned. The stained glass windows that the former archbishop
wanted to remove had already been saved by the intervention of the
Ministry of Culture (one of the few actions of Roseline Bachelot to be
welcomed).
The bronze ambo project by Guillaume Bardet
Three artists were chosen to create the new furniture: Jeanne Vautrin,
for the chairs, Guillaume Bardet for the liturgical furniture
(baptistery - ill. 1, ambo (ill. 2), cathedra (ill. 3), associated seat, altar (ill.
4) and tabernacle, and finally Sylvain Dubuisson for the reliquary
shrine to house the Crown of Thorns, the fragment of the wood of the
cross and the Passion Nail, in the axial chapel.
4. The bronze altar project by Guillaume Bardet
Let’s move on quickly to the chairs (ill. 1 and 5): we hear they
are comfortable, which is a good point. Aesthetically, they’re not
really that interesting, but they’re discreet and no worse than the ones
that came before.
Much more interesting is the furniture, which is both discreet and
elegant. The artist is not trying to impose himself, to compete with the
landmark works already in the cathedral, and that’s fine. The presence
of the baptistery in the centre, at the entrance to the nave (ill. 1), may legitimately be questioned, but its design is quite successful and its size not too massive.
6. The shrine-reliquary project
by Sylvain Dubuisson
On the other hand, the size of Dubuisson’s reliquary shrine (ill.
6) is somewhat excessive. But there is no cause for indignation here
either, in our opinion. It simply seems a bit pointless, especially as
it comes on top of Marc Couturier’s cross, which was already very bulky,
but which since the fire has acquired a status that makes it virtually
untouchable (it was the first thing you saw when you entered the
building after the disaster).
Replacement of the Viollet-le-Duc wooden doors in two chapels dedicated to confession
It is a shame that Viollet-le-Duc’s choir screen has not been
returned to its rightful place (which it had long since lost), nor has
the tabernacle created by the architect (especially as the one designed
by Guillaume Bardet is not the most successful part). However, two
chapels that will be used for confession, the last two on either side
before the transept, will have their wooden doors carved from drawings
by Viollet-le-Duc, which were removed a long time ago, restored (ill. 7).
Patrick Rimoux, a "light sculptor" (sic), will be responsible for the
illumination. It’s hard to say what the outcome will be from the
documents provided, but it should be noted that the specifications seem
to include "harmonious lighting of the main works housed in the
building".
That’s all we can say for now. It’s still just a project, but it’s
about time that a little serenity returned to Notre-Dame. This seems to
be the choice made by the archbishopric.
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