“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being, and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it becomes. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable,” Victor Hugo wrote in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. His novel intertwines stories of marginalisation and social injustice with a plea to preserve the world-renowned cathedral, whose stones and spires have carried the stories of centuries.

Built in the twelfth century under Bishop Maurice de Sully to accommodate the faithful on the Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame de Paris expanded through the Renaissance, survived the Revolution, and underwent major restorations in the nineteenth century. It has now been a year since the cathedral reopened following the devastating fire of April 2019.

Within this historic and storied space, the artist Claire Tabouret will install her contemporary interpretation of stained glass. The windows are currently being produced by Atelier Simon-Marq in Reims, the same workshop that created Marc Chagall’s stained-glass windows. They will replace the grisaille windows designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc by the end of 2026. And for those who wish to see Tabouret’s life-size models for these six windows on the south side of the nave, along with extensive preparatory work, they are currently on view at the Grand Palais in Paris.

However, according to Beaux Arts magazine, this moment of artistic recognition did not come without resistance. Since the project was announced in 2023, Tabouret’s commission has sparked intense debate. A petition initiated by La Tribune de l’Art, which gathered more than 300,000 signatures, called for the preservation of the historic windows, while both the Academy of Fine Arts and the National Heritage Commission voiced their objections. With support confirmed by the Élysée and after the Paris administrative court rejected a legal challenge brought by the association Sites & Monuments in December, the commission now moves forward with full institutional backing.

This tension between........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)