Notre-Dame: Musée de l’Œuvre on track, Viollet-le-Duc’s stained glass windows under threat

The President of the French Republic today visited the Notre-Dame construction site, one year to the day before it is due to reopen to the public on 8 December 2024. The framework is almost complete (ill. 1) and the structure of the spire is now 96 metres high (ill. 2), finally restoring the monument’s silhouette.
Emmanuel Macron made three announcements following this visit. Two are excellent, it has to be said. The third is unacceptable, and we’ll come back to it.

The first, then, concerns the absurd renewed controversy over lead, launched by the former deputy mayor of Paris with responsibility for health, Anne Souyris, newly elected to the Senate (which says a lot about the declining standards of French politicians). We refer you to the entire chapter on lead in our book on Notre-Dame [1], and would simply point out that while lead is indeed a metal to be handled with care, its return to the roof of the cathedral, installed by professionals accustomed to working with this material, obviously poses no risk to the public, especially as there are plans to treat rainwater run-off that might contain traces of it. The President therefore confirmed the choice made at the start of the project, especially as the work carried out in the roofing workshop is already well advanced, and installation will begin shortly.

The second decision was eagerly awaited, but its outcome was still uncertain a few days ago. It concerns the creation of the Musée de l’Œuvre and its installation in the Hôtel-Dieu (ill. 3). We refer you to the excellent recent article in L’Express by Agnès Laurent,…