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Thurs March 25. Paris.

 Today was a walk to a ‘must do’: Notre Dame Cathedral.  Here it is gleaming against a dark sky.


The inside now is so luminous. The oil paintings have been cleaned after centuries of light exposure. The stained glass windows (all of which, incredibly, survived the fire) have been taken down, cleaned and restored, and are now easy to see.  Beautiful modern art has been added.  

Here is a side chapel with a tapestry woven at the ancient Gobelin workshop in Paris from a cartoon by Georges Braque.  I think it harmonizes well with a 19th century stained glass window in the ‘grisaille’ style.  Several such windows are in side chapels, all commissioned by Violet-le-Duc, a nineteenth century architect who led the restoration (or rebuilding) of ancient castles and churches in a thoroughly romantic style, often criticised today. A huge controversy blew up when the restoration team of Notre Dame declared these 19th century windows would be replaced by modern stained glass ones.  A court case has just ended with the decision that modern replacement of 19th century replacement windows is permissible.

Notre Dame cathedral has three important relics: a nail from the cross of Jesus, a piece of its wood, and the whole crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head as he walked carrying his un cross.  All were ‘found’ by Emperor Constantine’s mother on her extended visit to Jerusalem in the fourth century.   The crusader-king and now Saint, King Louis of France, brought them to France from Constantinople in 1239.  

The crown of thorns (minus most of its thorns that have been given away over the centuries) is displayed for veneration at Easter every year.

In 2024 this relic received a new reliquary.  Designed by Sylvain Dubuisson, an architect, this is the largest, most stunning reliquary I have seen in my life.  Dominique and I sat in front of it quite a long while.  It draws you in, fills you with light, seems to whirl with you.  Here it is.



You can google excellent photos of the interior of the cathedral, so I’ll include just one more modern tapestry hanging inside, ‘Shroud’, woven from a cartoon  by Mario Prassinos.


The day ended happily at a small restaurant steps from Dominique’s door - fish, beef bourguignon etc. My photos aren’t good, but think of a small place, posters plastered on the doors and windows, full of people, a lot of whom knew each other, a singer and a guitarist with Italian songs some of which people knew and could sing along with… 






Comments

  1. Linda S GMarch 28, 2026 at 2:32 AM

    I love your photo of the cathedral against the sky.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RitaMarch 29, 2026 at 7:36 AM

    I agree with Linda--stunning photo of the restored cathedral. And that reliquary is breath-taking, even just in the photo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BevMarch 31, 2026 at 5:56 PM

    Sounds wonderful!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AllisonApril 3, 2026 at 12:05 AM

    Lumininous! Yes, that’s a great description. My memory of a previous visit is of a much darker atmosphere

    ReplyDelete

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