In the wake of the April 2019 fire that devastated Notre Dame cathedral, the French president Emmanuel Macron promised the monument would be rebuilt with a “contemporary gesture”.
There followed all manner of madcap ideas: a glass spire; a 300ft carbon-fibre flame, a swimming pool on the roof and a covered garden. In the end, Notre Dame was restored to its original former glory and reopened in a ceremony this month.
Now, however, the planned “contemporary gesture” has been revealed – and has sparked a bitter row.
French artist Claire Tabouret has been chosen to design new stained glass windows depicting Pentecostal scenes to be installed in the chapels on the south side of the medieval church. Tabouret was among 100 artists who took part in a competition to replace the existing six windows installed by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1844. The original windows were not damaged in the 2019 fire.
Designs submitted by Tabouret, 43, a figurative artist whose work featured in the Vatican pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year and who now lives in Los Angeles, show scenes of people in prayer in shades of red, turquoise, yellow and pink. She will work with master glassmakers at the Atelier Simon-Marq, a glass workshop founded in Reims in 1640, to recreate the drawings in glass.
The plan to replace the 19th century chapel windows, which feature geometric designs on translucent glass described as having more historic than aesthetic value, has enraged critics.
The 1964 Venice Charter, which codifies guidelines for preserving French buildings, states: “Items of sculpture, painting or decoration which form an integral part of a monument may only be removed if this is the sole means of ensuring their preservation,” and that “the valid contributions of all periods to the building of a monument must be respected”.
In July, the national committee for heritage and architecture at France’s ministry of culture unanimously opposed the plan to remove Viollet-le-Duc’s windows, prompting one artist to withdraw his designs from the competition.
However, the plan, expected to cost more than €4m, has the approval of the president, the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, and the church authorities.
At a press conference after the announcement of her selection, Tabouret, a graduate of Paris’s prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, said she was “excited” by the challenge but aware of the controversy.
“I’ve read about the different opinions of people because I want to understand their arguments and also to take an approach that is open and two-way. I find it a fascinating debate,” she said.
She added she wanted to create stained glass windows that would have “the right presence … without imposing themselves on visitors”.
Didier Rykner, a French journalist, art historian and founder of La Tribune de l’Art, a magazine dedicated to preserving France’s heritage, has described the idea of replacing the windows as “totally ludicrous”. He has launched a petition against the plan that has almost 250,000 signatures.
“The president of the republic has decided on his own, without any regard for the heritage law or Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, to replace the stained glass windows in six out of the seven chapels on the south aisle with contemporary creations, after organising a competition,” it reads.
“The stained glass windows in Notre Dame designed by Viollet-le-Duc were created as a coherent whole. It is a genuine creation that the architect wanted to be faithful to the cathedral’s gothic origins.
“Who gave the head of state a mandate to alter a cathedral that does not belong to him, but to everyone? Emmanuel Macron wants to put the stamp of the 21st century on Notre Dame de Paris. Perhaps a little modesty would be preferable.”
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The French heritage association Sites & Monuments has threatened legal action if the plan to remove Viollet-le-Duc’s windows goes ahead.
Rykner told the Observer: “To remove windows that survived the fire undamaged and replace them with others is just absurd. I am not against contemporary windows per se but there is just no reason to replace these windows. Besides, money donated by people to renovate Notre Dame has already been spent on cleaning them.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. We’ve been told they will put the Viollet-le-Duc windows on display in a museum. They don’t belong in a museum – they belong in Notre Dame. It makes no sense for them to be on display anywhere other than the cathedral. Their only interest is in situ.”
He added: “I don’t see why Macron has such a say over what happens to a heritage building. This is just a vanity project.
“As for the church authorities approving this; we should remember the greatest vandalism done to French churches and religious buildings in the 60s and 70s was carried out … by the church. They have no taste.”
The Académie des beaux-arts has also opposed the replacing of the windows. In a statement last year, it wrote: “[The members of the academy] are concerned that the announcement of a competition for the creation of contemporary stained glass windows, which they support in principle, involves replacing the non-figurative windows … The fire spared these windows.
“The Académie des beaux-arts hopes that other locations, starting with the North Tower, will be considered for this commission for contemporary stained glass.”
Stéphane Bern, Macron’s former heritage tsar, voiced his opposition to the plan in an interview with Ouest France newspaper. “I have nothing against Claire Tabouret or contemporary stained glass … But I am in favour of them when the old ones are destroyed or damaged. You can’t remove stained glass windows that are listed as historic monuments,” Bern said.
“Why does the state set itself free from the rules it imposes on others? Just because the president wants it that way?” Glassmaker Simon-Marq will make tThe six new windows, which will reach 7m high and cover a total surface area of 121m², are expected to be installed in 2026.
Tabouret said she would be incorporating motifs from Viollet-le-Duc’s windows in the stained glass.
