The six contemporary stained glass windows designed by the artist Claire Tabouret for Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, contested by certain heritage defenders, will be installed between October and November and revealed to the public in December, the public establishment Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris announced on Thursday July 23.
These stained glass windows will be completed “in September” then “installed in October-November so that everything is ready for an unveiling in December”, indicated Philippe Jost, president of the public establishment, during a visit to the Simon-Marq workshop in Reims where they are currently made.
Their manufacture does not suffer from “any delay”, underlined alongside her the Minister of Culture, Catherine Pgard, according to whom the installation of these stained glass windows will be “another very big moment” for the cathedral reopened in December 2024, five years after the fire which ravaged it in 2019.
According to Anne-Catherine Perreau, workshop manager at Simon-Marq, the manufacturing of the six stained glass windows is “70%” advanced: “three bays are completed”, a fourth will be completed within a week and the other two are “well underway”, she detailed.
The “descent of the Holy Spirit”
They each represent a verse from the Bible dedicated to Pentecost, the “descent of the Holy Spirit”, a theme chosen by the archbishopric of Paris. These bays, the construction of which is financed by the State, must replace six of the seven stained glass windows in the south aisle of the nave within the Parisian cathedral, made in 1864 as part of the restoration of Notre-Dame led by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
The six removed glass roofs, currently being removed at the foot of the cathedral, will then be “restored and then exposed to the public, four of them at the Château de Pierrefonds (Oise) and two others at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine (Paris 16th),” the public establishment said in a press release.
The planned replacement of the glass roofs of Viollet-le-Duc, undamaged by the fire, has led to a lively controversy, carried by heritage defenders who denounce its relevance and cost. “When we see these six glass roofs where they should be, I think that it will sweep away all the negative opinions,” assured the Minister of Culture.
This project “is truly part of the history of the cathedral”, which, “throughout the centuries and for (…) more than 860 years, has always seen contributions from different eras”, recalled Philippe Jost. With this project, “we are at the service of the cathedral”, underlined Claire Tabouret at the end of the visit to the workshop.
