Almost a year before the announced reopening of Notre-Dame, the enthusiasm for the restoration site is undeniable. Evidenced by the crowd of journalists present for the exhibition “Notre-Dame. From builders to restorers” (1) at the City of Architecture and Heritage, as well as at the House of Works and Trades (2), which has just opened in the old car parks located under the cathedral forecourt.
The exhibition of the City of Architecture and Heritage occupies the large gallery of the museum’s casts. The part concerning the current construction site, which has been the subject of many more extensive television documentaries (3), is not of particular interest, but the rest of the route, relating to the rescue of the cathedral in the 19th century, presents rare documents for the first time, such as the letter of petition signed in 1842 by Victor Hugo or drawings by Viollet-le-Duc. You should also take the chance to see up close the 16 large sculptures of the spire representing the Apostles and the Evangelists, deposited before the fire and thus saved. The new patina has brought them back to their original appearance, black… and not green!
On 300 m2, the House of construction and trades offers an evocation of the know-how involved in bringing the monument back to life, a few tens of meters away… It begins with a film on the highlights of the restoration and a large model educational wooden cathedral at 1/55th. The visitor then wanders around eight large openwork partitions presenting the main catering professions, with the help of short videos or animations. A few rare artefacts, such as a stained glass window of the Legend of Saint Geneviève or a polychrome angel’s head fallen from the transept crossing, give “flesh” to this presentation.
If these proposals are not lacking in interest, they are nevertheless of modest size and exhibit a limited number of works, as shown by the absence of catalogues. The House of the construction site even seems to play an accompanying role to the immersive virtual reality show Eternelle Notre-Dame, presented last year by the company Amaclio at the Grande Arche de la Défense and repatriated at the beginning of the year under the forecourt … It will probably be necessary to wait for the exhibition on the treasure of Notre-Dame, planned at the Louvre in the fall, to benefit from a first major exhibition on the cathedral.
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