The Restoration of Notre Dame

The 2019 fire at Notre Dame (WSJ/AFP/Getty images)

Like many who watched in horror five years ago, we thought that Notre Dame Cathedral had been lost forever to fire. Yesterday it re-opened, radiant and gleaming.

The limestone facade of Notre Dame Cathedral is radiant. Its ornate gargoyles and angels show no signs of the smoke and flames that once billowed from the church. The cavernous interior is immaculate, the soot having been meticulously scrubbed from its arches.

By almost any metric the restoration of Notre Dame has been a success, coming five years after a fire swept across the masterpiece of Gothic architecture, nearly destroying it. On Saturday, a host of global figures, including President-elect Donald Trump, gathered inside the cathedral for a solemn ceremony to mark its reopening.

Notre Dame’s revival is nothing short of a miracle to many, a sign that cooperation across France and beyond to achieve a singular goal is still possible.

We marvel that the skills necessary for the restoration had not been lost, that there was little dithering over what the "new" church should look like, that funds were raised quickly, and most of all, that beauty came back into the world.

Paris in the summer when it sizzles

To those of us who followed the news 21 years ago, the French heat wave was an eye-opener: [bold added]

It was an unprecedented heatwave, which saw hospital services overwhelmed, fatalities rapidly counted by the dozens – if not hundreds – in hospitals and retirement homes, a health minister procrastinating at his holiday resort, and a government was slow to act....from August 2 to 17, 2003, France experienced its most prolonged and intense heatwave in the hottest summer since 1950. It was also the most deadly, claiming the lives of 15,000 people in a fortnight.

Trocadero Fountains, 2019 (CBS News)

After 2003 heat waves have been taken very seriously, and safety protocols (cooling centers, wellness checks) have been implemented.

Headline: Paris Wanted a Green Olympics. Team USA Wants Air Conditioning.

The organizers of the Summer Games, in their efforts to be friendlier to the environment, chose not to install air conditioning.

For much of the world, a few fitful nights of sweating in front of open windows is simply a reality of summer. But some Olympians are more reliant on climate control than others—namely the members of Team USA.

They are now discovering what generations of American tourists have encountered on their European vacations: When you ask for A/C in France, you’re more likely to receive a giant Gallic shrug.

Although athletes' quarters have been engineered to be cooler than non-A/C rooms (cold water circulates beneath the floors), portable air conditioners are available at extra cost.

But for those athletes who remain unconvinced and worry about their performance being derailed by sleeping in sweatbox apartments, Paris 2024 has made air conditioning units available for hire. And there are no gold medals for guessing which delegation leads the way.

The 592-strong Team USA delegation isn’t risking the slightest discomfort. Every single U.S. room and some common areas have been equipped with portable A/C units, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The Americans will all be able to take on any Paris heat wave by hanging out in meat-locker conditions, even though temperatures over the next 10 days aren’t expected to top 90.

I don't blame the athletes for removing all possible impediments to their performance. Unlike the one-percenters who always use private planes, the U.S. Olympians at least have a good reason for setting aside the global-warming principles the elite espouse for the rest of us.

Notre Dame:: Continuing the Tradition

1966 windows by Jacques le Chevallier

Four years ago Notre Dame Cathedral miraculously survived a devastating fire. Not unexpectedly there has been disagreement surrounding the reconstruction of the over-800-year-old national monument.

The latest controversy is over the replacement of the Chevallier stained-glass windows that were not damaged by the fire. These windows are grisaille (“shades of gray” accented with color). In addition they do not depict scenes from the Bible or saints ("non-figural"), and didn't have defenders when their replacement was authorized by both the Catholic Church and the government.

Now there are petitions to leave the windows intact. Your humble blogger has no dog in this hunt, but I do think that, based on history, if the windows are replaced they will be beautiful.

A Grand Time

Good old Disney days (2016): no masks, no social
distancing, and not having to break the bank.

It's cheaper to stay at Disneyland in Paris for a week, including plane fare, than Disneyland Anaheim.

a recent report from KTLA’s sister station shows that a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim is now nearly twice as expensive as traveling to Disney in Marne le Vallee, France.

This month, the outlet reported that...in June 2022, it costs a total of $4,571.50 for two people to stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel – the cheapest Disney [Anaheim] property resort available – for six nights with five days of park tickets included.

Meanwhile, at Disneyland Paris, the cheapest on-property hotel, the Hotel Santa Fe, was quoted at $2,173.66 for seven days of theme park tickets and a six-night stay (no meals were added on and no insurance was selected). Even with a $1,456.74 flight from Los Angeles to Paris included, the experience would still come out to a grand total of $3,676.06.

Overall, travelers in this scenario could save $895.44 by going to Disneyland in Paris instead of Anaheim.

The cost differential is even higher for Bay Area parkgoers, since we would have to drive to Anaheim. At current gas prices we would save at least a grand by going to Paris.

Reconstruire Mieux, Non

Only Luddites would object to a pool on the roof.

2½ years ago Notre-Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames. Somehow, miraculously, it was spared. In what has been termed "the world’s greatest act of collective cultural philanthropy"

Over $940 million has already been collected from donors, some 340,000 in all, from all over the world.

Initial attempts to modernize the reconstruction met with vociferous resistance, and the exterior will be restored to the original.

Now the controversy is over the interior.

The illuminated pictures do look like Disneyland

Now we learn from the Telegraph newspaper (and two European online journals) that the cathedral interior is to be updated—and in the most radical fashion.....the intact interior, is to be transformed into something akin to a contemporary art installation or theme park...

The grand nave, the central passage of the cathedral, is to be lined with Renaissance-era paintings, one above each of the Gothic capitals.

The idea is to make the Catholic faith comprehensible...to the 12 million tourists, many with little or no knowledge of Catholicism, who arrive each year. To make them feel more welcome, phrases in their native languages are to be projected on the wall.

Traditionalists, which include your humble blogger, do not believe in "restoring" documents, works of art, or other relics to make them more "accessible" to modern viewers. As the essayist points out:

If those tourists want information about the Catholic faith in digital form, they can find it far more abundantly on the phones in their back pockets. It is a losing game to compete with virtual reality; the result can only be a simulacrum of a simulacrum.

With the right technology one can have both--the original physical experience of Notre Dame and the visual and auditory enhancement that can be superimposed over the physical. Using augmented reality tools would be more informative than images projected on walls, and there is no need for any controversy over reconstruction.

Just make sure the WiFi signal is strong.

Note: to their credit the French didn't have the nerve to call the project reconstruire mieux (building back better).

Green Acres is the Place to Be

The Grand-Dewyse family will spend more time in Errancourt
2 hours NE of Paris when the child comes (WSJ photo)

The move out of the cities is occurring worldwide:

Fears of a second wave of infections and the ease of remote working are prompting families with children, pensioners and some young people to question the long-term benefits of city life.

In the U.S., 39% of urban dwellers said the Covid-19 crisis prompted them to consider leaving for less densely populated areas, according to a Harris poll of 2,050 adults conducted in late April.

In France, 38% of potential home buyers widened their searches further from big cities as they sought gardens and an extra room for remote working during the pandemic, according to a survey mid-May by French real-estate portal SeLoger.

In Germany, where economic activity is more spread out across the country, demand for houses in rural areas has risen steadily since lockdowns began in mid-March, according to online real-estate portal ImmoScout24.

Some historians think the urban exodus is short-lived:

Examples from past crises—from the Spanish flu of 1918 to wars in Europe and 9/11 in New York City—show that urban exiles tend to return, researchers say.

Your humble blogger believes that this time is different; the de-population of urban centers won't reverse itself for at least 20 years. As services like fire, education, health, transportation, and police are asked to do more on frozen budgets, businesses and the middle and upper classes flee--not all at once, to be sure--but enough so that the tax base erodes. Services are further reduced, and the flight continues. The admittedly extreme example is Detroit, a once-great American city that has never recovered from the 1967 riots.

We are entering a downward spiral that is extremely difficult to turn around. Almost everyone wants to feel safe where they live, and cities are going in the opposite direction with COVID-19. (Defunding of police forces might be the last straw for many American urban dwellers.)

If you have property in the city, sell it. If you are considering a move into the city, rent, don't buy. Even better, don't do it.

Jean Vanier

(WSJ drawing)

Words of wisdom from philosopher Jean Vanier (1928-2019), founder of L'Arche: [bold added]

Mr. Vanier was asked what could be contributed by those unable to devote themselves full time to serving others. “Try and find somebody who is lonely,” he said. “And when you go to see them, they will see you as the messiah. Go and visit a little old lady who has no friends or family. Bring her flowers. People say, ‘But that’s nothing.’ It is nothing—but it’s also everything.”

Appalled by conditions in a French mental asylum, Jean Vanier invited two inmates to live with him in 1964. His house became the first L'Arche (inspired by Noah's Ark), and the charity "has spread to more than 150 communities in 38 countries, providing homes for about 5,000 people."

Those suffering from mental illness or mental disability require attention for hours every day over a long period of time. Solutions are not easily "scalable", and treating everyone who needs help is frankly impossible. Another quote:

The great thing about people with intellectual disabilities is that they’re not people who discuss philosophy. What they want is fun and laughter, to do things together and fool around, and laughter is at the heart of community....What I’m trying to live and trying to say is that people with disabilities are important—in themselves but also they have a message to give to humanity.

Once in a while we chance upon a profile, a biography, or obituary that gives us hope for humanity. R.I.P.

"It Felt Like a Miracle"

Good Friday, 2019, in Paris (NBC photo)

Peggy Noonan asks why the burning of Notre-Dame Cathedral triggered an emotional reaction around the world:

the flames and smoke evoked similar [to 9/11] feelings of grief and loss, and a sense of portent, especially for Catholics, who saw in the destruction a metaphor for—or a judgment of—the state of their church...

Tuesday morning, the shocking good news: The fire was out, the structure still standing, the great things still there—the radiant cross, the altar, the Pietà, the pews, the relics saved.

It felt like a miracle, didn’t it? I think it was.

From despair to hope....on Holy Week. Unbelievable.

Not Gone

(WSJ/AFP/Getty images)

Like everyone* else, we reacted with horror at the sight of flames engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral. When the spire toppled, its destruction seemed inevitable.
      *we'll ignore the tweets of a few crazies.

On this Holy Week we are grateful that it has been spared.

The discussion has already started about the cause of the fire, the restoration and its cost. For the nonce, let's reflect on the significance of Notre Dame, and why its loss would have meant so much to so many.

As word of the fire spread, emails and calls began zipping across continents as art historians sought to glean details about the fate of the treasures within. [Met curator Barbara] Boehm said she was worried about everything from the 14th-century sculptures that line the belt of chapels to the vast organ that is encased in elaborately carved wood.

Among the holy relics preserved there are a crown of thorns said to have been worn by Jesus during his crucifixion and a piece of the cross on which he was crucified.

“It’s such an emblem of Paris, of civilization, that everything inside it—from the candlesticks to the chalices—contains centuries of history and preciousness,” Ms. Boehm said...

Among many historic events that have taken place at the cathedral, Henry VI of England was crowned king there in 1431 and Napoleon was made emperor in 1804 after taking the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and placing it on his own head. In 1909, Joan of Arc was beatified by Pope Pius X there...

Today, the cathedral is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics from France and around the world. It draws around 13 million visitors a year—or around 30,000 people a day, more than the Eiffel Tower.

Jerrilynn Dodds, professor of medieval art and architecture at Sarah Lawrence College, said Notre Dame is one of the few monuments to faith that enjoys universal appeal. “Our love for Notre Dame goes beyond religion, beyond politics,” she said. “It’s part of our collective identity, and now we’re suffering a common grief.”

It was there centuries before we were born, and now there is comfort that it will be there after we are gone.