Paris. How can a place of worship and famous monument maintain the balance between heritage tradition and anchoring in modernity? If the restoration of the building was carried out “identically” to the previous state, the diocese (assignee of the place) and the archbishop wanted to completely renew the liturgical furniture, largely destroyed in the fire. It was the designer Guillaume Bardet who was chosen in the summer of 2023 to create the altar, the ambo (support for reading the Gospels), the baptistery, the tabernacle and the cathedra (seat reserved for the archbishop who marks the cathedral status of the church). So many objects essential to the liturgy which are not all removable and therefore participate in the visit to the cathedral. This is slightly modified because, upon entering, visitors see, in the central axis of the cathedral, the baptistery in patinated bronze and with a shimmering polished mirror cover (see ill.): at the end of this axis is holds the altar, massive, also in patinated bronze. Guillaume Bardet explains having chosen shapes “simple” identifiable by non-Christians, like the cup (chalice) of the baptistery which recalls “pottery found in almost all civilizations”. The altar (see ill.) focuses the eye at the intersection of the transept and the nave; it is framed by the “T”-shaped ambo and the cathedra inspired by the Roman curule seat, positioned at the foot of the north and south pillars. The designer insists on the importance of the position of the furniture, which must “speak of the sacred” to visitors and faithful alike, “to children and adults alike”. A dark patina contrasts with the restored light stone, which finds an echo in the stone bases of the furniture pieces: Guillaume Bardet believes that his pieces can be seen as “sculptures”, and that they must keep “a presence” beyond their liturgical status.
The baptistery designed by Guillaume Bardet.
© Julio Piatti / Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral
Choices consistent with the Second Vatican Council
Far from being confined to rites, this furniture therefore combines several statuses. According to anthropologist Gaspard Salatko (Héritages research laboratory), member of the “Emotions and Mobilizations” group at the Notre-Dame scientific site, “the clergy took up the project of the liturgical development to rethink the circulation in the monument, from a religious and cultural point of view”. He indicates that the clergy found a restoration of “identical” liturgical furniture incompatible with contemporary forms of Catholic celebration (after the Second Vatican Council). The choice of placing the baptistery at the entrance, for example, thus affirms in space the first stage of a Christian’s life, baptism.
The archbishop and the diocese have therefore made very modern choices to mark the reopening, which Guillaume Bardet confirms: “We had to mark the event of the fire in the new furniture. » The diocese also asked him to create new liturgical tableware, to mark the memory of the fire and the restoration even in the rites. The memorial aspect therefore remains omnipresent, and according to Gaspard Salatko the new furniture embodies “the spatialization of Christian memory in the cathedral”, which becomes “a Christian memorial” while retaining its heritage and political dimension.
The heated debate on the stained glass windows of Notre-Dame illustrates this superposition of symbolism and status, with supporters of contemporary stained glass windows including the diocese (eight artists are still in the running), and supporters of the grisaille stained glass windows of Viollet-le-duc (classified as historic monuments) on the side of heritage specialists. On the other hand, neither the chairs created by designer Ionna Vautrin nor the order for seven contemporary tapestries caused any debate. The same is true of the new reliquary shrine (created by designer Sylvain Dubuisson) which will house Christ’s crown of thorns from December 13, 2024. The restored cathedral and its new furniture contribute to varying degrees to the “heritage emotions” according to Gaspard Salatko, who adds that “modernity in this case is located on the side of the Church more than of heritage specialists”.
