Art & Architecture
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Lights & Darkness
in the Reopening of Notre Dame
Common experience dictates beyond doubt that France is the jewel of Western Civilization. For centuries the world has looked to France for the final say on culture, architecture, cuisine, fashion and ideals. From the humblest Breton cottage to the wonders of the Louvre the French express a nobility and élan that has been the envy of the world. Tourists flock from around the globe to wonder at the monuments of France.
If France is the crown of Western Civilization, the jewel in that crown is none other than the Cathedral
of Notre Dame.
So it was that on April 15, 2019, when a fire tore through the ancient Gothic monument, the world stood dumbstruck. The tragedy was not just a loss to France, but a blow to all civilization. The shining jewel of the West became disfigured, losing its whole roof with the symbolic coq de France at the tip of its spire.
Now, five years after the tragedy, a restored Notre Dame opens its doors once more.
The good
The reopening ceremony was fittingly inaugurated by Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, who knocked ceremoniously on the great Cathedral doors. Politicans and leaders around the world thronged to the opening in the hopes that some small glimmer of Notre Dame’s glory might rub off on them and their careers.
Secularists, atheists, protestants, and even at least one Muslim prince all converged to be a part of this historic moment. There could hardly be a greater testament to the grandeur of the ancient Catholic Religion than the masses of world leaders jockeying for position within the halls of this singular monument.
The restoration itself was handled with a seriousness and attention to detail befitting the sublime monument. Master carpenters and artisans from around the world were brought to France to undertake the once in a millennia mission.
Century old French oaks from formerly royal forests were felled for the timber. Carpenters with medieval style hand tools worked the wood to replicate even the finely varied surface texture of the original beams. By order of President Macron the restoration of the structure would strictly replicate the original down to the most to minute detail.
Centuries of dust are now cleansed from the walls. Interior pillars stand in their original brilliant white glowing stone. This, combined with increased lighting, has brought a new aura of luminosity to the most august Cathedral: a fitting atmosphere for the worship of the Light of the lights.
The massive bronze bells, saved from the fire, tolled for the first time in five years. The statue of Our Lady of Paris, incredibly preserved from the flames, was also returned and installed in its proper place during a solemn procession.
The bad
While one can only admire the state-ordered attention to detail in the structural restoration of this monument of Western Civilization, the furniture was disastrously left in the hands of the progressivist clergy to gut and deform as they saw fit. The wayward religious authority has spared no opportunity to vent its hatred of all things beautiful in the name of “innovation.”
We now see the Altar, the very heart of the greatest Cathedral in the world, reduced to a bizarre bronze half-egg. The Bishop's seat and those of his auxiliars have been replaced by amorphous masses of slick wood vaguely resembling their intended function as chairs.
Even in the opening ceremony Arch. Ulrich chose to dress in colors more appropriate to a clown than a cleric; his garb suspiciously mimicking the colors of Masonic Order of the Eastern Star. The Archbishop’s chosen crosier, with a bizarre luminous blue glass inlaid at the head of the staff, was a comical innovation more befitting a Disneyland wizard's performance than the most solemn ceremony of the Archbishop's career.
Those attending the ceremony had short wooden chairs to use rather than solid pews. Attendees had the additional suffering of enduring a series of cacophonous organ “improvisations” that seems more befitting background for a horror story; some suspect it may have been emblematic of the occult. Indeed, a friend who is an expert in music recognized in some stances of those performances the presence of tri-tones, which in the medieval music were considered the “Devil’s intervals.” Such jarring sounds do not spread the peace and beauty of harmony, but rather the wrenching anguish of cacophony.
As a last insult to History the golden rooster reliquary that for centuries looked down upon Paris from atop Notre Dame’s spire has been replaced by a pagan phoenix.
It is a twist of wry irony that the secular State prevented the Church Hierarchy from imposing more destructive innovations than what they managed to make. We can at least be relieved that the proposal to turn Notre Dame into a public swimming pool was soundly rejected. At least the modern French still have some sense of grandeur left in them.
For further analysis of the interior renovations Rita Stewart goes into greater depth, showing the miserablist, secular and ecumenical tone of many of the important religious pieces, such as the altar, baptismal font, tabernacle, pulpit, etc.
A jewel restored
The world wept with France in 2019 when the Notre Dame was taken by flames. Now, five years after one of the most meticulous restorations in History, the crowds of jostling world leaders attending the reopening attest that in spite of the revolutionary spirit of the 21st century everyone still bends a knee to the glory of Catholic Civilization.
Notre Dame has stood for nearly 900 years. May it stand for thousands more.
So it was that on April 15, 2019, when a fire tore through the ancient Gothic monument, the world stood dumbstruck. The tragedy was not just a loss to France, but a blow to all civilization. The shining jewel of the West became disfigured, losing its whole roof with the symbolic coq de France at the tip of its spire.
Now, five years after the tragedy, a restored Notre Dame opens its doors once more.
The good
The reopening ceremony was fittingly inaugurated by Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, who knocked ceremoniously on the great Cathedral doors. Politicans and leaders around the world thronged to the opening in the hopes that some small glimmer of Notre Dame’s glory might rub off on them and their careers.
Secularists, atheists, protestants, and even at least one Muslim prince all converged to be a part of this historic moment. There could hardly be a greater testament to the grandeur of the ancient Catholic Religion than the masses of world leaders jockeying for position within the halls of this singular monument.
Notre Dame's interior then vs. now
Century old French oaks from formerly royal forests were felled for the timber. Carpenters with medieval style hand tools worked the wood to replicate even the finely varied surface texture of the original beams. By order of President Macron the restoration of the structure would strictly replicate the original down to the most to minute detail.
Centuries of dust are now cleansed from the walls. Interior pillars stand in their original brilliant white glowing stone. This, combined with increased lighting, has brought a new aura of luminosity to the most august Cathedral: a fitting atmosphere for the worship of the Light of the lights.
The massive bronze bells, saved from the fire, tolled for the first time in five years. The statue of Our Lady of Paris, incredibly preserved from the flames, was also returned and installed in its proper place during a solemn procession.
The bad
While one can only admire the state-ordered attention to detail in the structural restoration of this monument of Western Civilization, the furniture was disastrously left in the hands of the progressivist clergy to gut and deform as they saw fit. The wayward religious authority has spared no opportunity to vent its hatred of all things beautiful in the name of “innovation.”
Carpenters at work with traditional tools
Even in the opening ceremony Arch. Ulrich chose to dress in colors more appropriate to a clown than a cleric; his garb suspiciously mimicking the colors of Masonic Order of the Eastern Star. The Archbishop’s chosen crosier, with a bizarre luminous blue glass inlaid at the head of the staff, was a comical innovation more befitting a Disneyland wizard's performance than the most solemn ceremony of the Archbishop's career.
Those attending the ceremony had short wooden chairs to use rather than solid pews. Attendees had the additional suffering of enduring a series of cacophonous organ “improvisations” that seems more befitting background for a horror story; some suspect it may have been emblematic of the occult. Indeed, a friend who is an expert in music recognized in some stances of those performances the presence of tri-tones, which in the medieval music were considered the “Devil’s intervals.” Such jarring sounds do not spread the peace and beauty of harmony, but rather the wrenching anguish of cacophony.
Colored Arch. Ulrich with a glass inlaid crosier; in the insert, the Masonic Order of the Eastern Star's logo
It is a twist of wry irony that the secular State prevented the Church Hierarchy from imposing more destructive innovations than what they managed to make. We can at least be relieved that the proposal to turn Notre Dame into a public swimming pool was soundly rejected. At least the modern French still have some sense of grandeur left in them.
For further analysis of the interior renovations Rita Stewart goes into greater depth, showing the miserablist, secular and ecumenical tone of many of the important religious pieces, such as the altar, baptismal font, tabernacle, pulpit, etc.
A jewel restored
The world wept with France in 2019 when the Notre Dame was taken by flames. Now, five years after one of the most meticulous restorations in History, the crowds of jostling world leaders attending the reopening attest that in spite of the revolutionary spirit of the 21st century everyone still bends a knee to the glory of Catholic Civilization.
Notre Dame has stood for nearly 900 years. May it stand for thousands more.
World leaders vied to be at the ceremony with the desperate hope
of basking in the grandeur of Notre Dame
Posted December 11, 2024
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