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Making stones speak. Medieval sculptures at Notre-Dame

All the versions of this article: English , français

Paris, Musée de Cluny, from 19 November 2024 to 16 March 2025.

Notre-Dame is in the news, sometimes for the worse with Emmanuel Macron’s plan to remove Viollet-le-Duc’s stained glass windows (sign our petition if you haven’t already done so) and also for the better: the reopening of the cathedral, first of all (see article), but also this exhibition by the Musée de Cluny, the first opportunity for everyone to admire some of the sculptures rediscovered from the rood screen. However, this exhibition is much broader in scope, covering the entire medieval sculptural programme based on works conserved in Cluny and the Louvre, with the exception of the king’s heads discovered in 1977, which are only mentioned and remain in the room where they are normally displayed.

1. Presentation of the fragments of the column statues from the Saint-Anne portal
in the exhibition
Photo: Didier Rykner
See the image in its page

The exhibition and its catalogue will appeal to neophytes and specialists alike, and it is no mean feat to succeed in satisfying such diverse audiences with a single event. Ordinary enthusiasts will be able to admire the works in a simple museography that magnifies them by placing them in context (ill. 1). Alongside particularly technical essays on past and present restorations, polychromy and the identification of iconography, the catalogue also tells some fascinating stories, such as that of the discovery of a large number of sculptures from Notre-Dame during work on a building in the 9th arrondissement belonging to the Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur. These include the heads of kings mentioned above, as well as a number of fragments from four of the cathedral’s five portals.

The aim of the exhibition is not to provide an exhaustive presentation of these sculptural ensembles, which are still being studied in depth following the restoration work and excavations. It may be more modest, but it is no less interesting. Through case studies, it aims to show what modern methods of investigation can…

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