Notre-Dame: “Victor Hugo restored the way we look at monuments”

Victor Hugo was wrong when he wrote in Notre-Dame of Paris : “This will kill that (…) The book will kill the building “. Printing has not killed sculpture. Painting has not succumbed to the onslaught of photography. Nor the book compared to those of digital media. And Notre-Dame, more beautiful than ever, stands in the heart of Paris to remind us that heritage is at the center of national celebrations. Battle won? Victory of monuments over demolitionists? But if Victor Hugo was wrong, it is because he averted fate by leading public opinion to look at Notre-Dame differently and by convincing those in power to launch its restoration. Before restoring the monuments, he restored the way we looked at them.

Let’s imagine that Victor Hugo is present among us. What would he have to say? The jewels of heritage are restored, pampered, at the heart of attention. As a good romantic, he would undoubtedly turn his gaze elsewhere than towards these high places, central and pampered. Notre-Dame de Paris had interested the 19th century novelist because he associated it with the underbelly of an underworld city, with the artistic marginality of the Gothic in the face of the academicism of the 1830s. Notre-Dame was not not abandoned in 1831, when the novel was published. It was used for major state ceremonies, it was regularly repaired, but without taking into account the archaeological and spiritual dimension of the building and never with sufficient means. She was wasting away without causing any scandal. Hugo breathed the heroic breath necessary for this to change.

A new Notre-Dame-from-somewhere

To which building could a new one be dedicated Notre-Dame-from-somewhere ? Even today, it should be a religious building, whose sacred force remains incomparable. Perhaps all those who find themselves in the new heritage margins: the new abandoned buildings, without institutionalized heritage interest. Those of the new slums, far from the lights of city centers and the care of major patrons. These are the ones the new romantics look at.

It is the thousands of churches which are so many Notre-Dame in the rural communities and urban neighborhoods where they are located, which are in dire need of maintenance or restoration. So many of them are neo-Gothic or neo-Romanesque, and to have been built in the 19th century, in the wake of the vogue for the Hugolian novel and the restoration of Notre-Dame. But large medieval buildings in peripheral towns are also struggling, far from view. Outskirts of the national territory: why does the Soissons Cathedral remain deprived of its great organ, crushed by the collapse of the rose window during a storm in 2017 and with no deadline planned for the moment? Would it be less worthy of hearing its vaults vibrate than Notre-Dame de Paris? Outskirts of major metropolises: why did the spire of the Saint-Denis cathedral basilica have to wait 179 years for the decision to rebuild it?

Writers for heritage

Which writers to defend heritage today? In Saint-Denis, it was Érik Orsenna who was the first president of the sponsorship committee, recalling the power of the writer to commit to the service of heritage, but without dedicating a text to the building. emblematic. There are also all the writers who have been committed to Notre-Dame de Paris since the fire and who could one day shift their gaze towards the peripheries.

What could a new Victor Hugo ask for? Justice, undoubtedly. Let us accept that part of the patronage is directed towards major buildings or redirected towards modest and inconspicuous buildings, as heavy to carry as a cathedral for those who own them. This new Victor Hugo could also write a new War on the demolition workers! where he would denounce the clean slate policy led by mayors, without reconstruction of a new place of worship, as in Abbeville, where one of the most beautiful churches in the city was ruthlessly demolished by the municipality in 2014. Or even this village , Serqueux, where, for the first time in France, during a referendum in 2022, the majority of residents voted for the demolition of their church, fortunately saved at the last minute by the DRAC, the Heritage Foundation and the Religious Heritage Observatory.

The cause of religious heritage

There is no doubt that this new Victor Hugo would stand on the side of those who courageously lead the fight. Supported, moreover, by the public authorities, a sign that things are starting to change. The Heritage Foundation, following the impetus given by Emmanuel Macron in June 2023, is carrying out a major collection which calls on the French to donate up to 200 million euros for these forgotten buildings. With a result which amounts to 16 million euros. And our new Victor Hugo could increase the number of articles to encourage greater generosity and solidarity. Finally, this new Victor Hugo should also be a new Maurice Barrès, defending in Parliament the cause of religious heritage and churches so that the law grants them the protection they deserve.

Who ? Ladies and gentlemen, to your feathers. France expects the talent of great writers to serve its heritage. May the beauty of the letter serve that of the stone. Historians, journalists, editorialists expect their fight to be led by a professional of the written word, whose style and breath would be those of his time and not a bombastic pastiche of the great writer of the century before last, whose shadow However, their protector always accompanies them.