r/Cathedrals

A controversy has erupted in Paris as plans to install modern glass windows at Notre-Dame Cathedral commence. Backed by Emmanuel Macron, the proposal aims to blend contemporary art with historic architecture.

After the church nearly burned to the ground in 2019, Macron announced a competition to replace the windows on its south aisle. They were the work of the 19th-century architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who oversaw Notre-Dame’s last major restoration in the 1840s. Last December, Tabouret’s designs were chosen by a committee out of more than 100 submissions. Not everyone, however, was happy.

But critics have slammed it as “cultural vandalism,” arguing it could alter the cathedral’s legacy. Campaigners have gathered over 300 thousand signatories in a petition to block the new windows, against “stamping Notre-Dame with the mark of the 21st century.”

Next, they took a legal case to Paris’s administrative court arguing that France’s historic monuments legislation prohibited replacing the windows. The court didn’t agree and ruled in late November that installing new windows fell within the scope of the state’s authority.

Tabouret refuses to take the critics’complaints personally. “These are people who hate the project, no matter what,”. stating that "every time there is a new artistic intervention in a historic part of Paris, there is a controversy, and it’s interesting to be part of that history".

These new windows feature an expressionist, colorful, and figurative interpretation of Pentecost, the birth of the Church. The designs feature figures in primary-colored robes, including a circle of people holding hands, a crowd in procession, and imagery of wind and fire. the new glass will introduce vibrant colours such as turquoise, red and pink to contrast with the muted light of the restored cathedral.

First images show the new windows, and the second photos show the old ones. which do you prefer?