Under the direction of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1869)
Stained glass window from the Saint Peter chapel, 1865,
threatened by the project
Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame
Photo: La Tribune de l’Art
The petition against the removal of Viollet-le-Duc’s stained glass windows at Notre-Dame has just passed the 275 000 signature mark, and it contains many names of people belonging to the Ministry of Culture’s direction des patrimoines. But an official from this department, former regional curator of historic monuments at the DRAC Île-de-France, former heritage advisor to Minister Rima Abdul-Malak and now Inspector General of Cultural Affairs, has just shown even greater courage, as we know how timid many of them are when it comes to disapproving of their ministry’s policy when it runs counter to their mission.
We’re talking about Antoine-Marie Préaut, who, like many of his colleagues, no doubt discovered that he had just been awarded a knighthood in the Ordre National du Mérite as part of a "special promotion to the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris 2024". But he puts the protection of the heritage for which he is responsible before this type of award. Indeed, he posted a long, uncompromising message on his Linkedin account, which ends as follows:
"This commitment and determination to safeguard the authenticity of protected buildings is the essence of the work of the Historic Monuments Department throughout France.
It’s up to us, each in our own role, to identify the means of preserving and passing on, like couriers, the heritage that our predecessors and contemporaries deemed desirable to preserve, thanks to its artistic and historical qualities.
Out of respect for the arduous and invisible task of safeguarding the cathedral and the exceptional work of restoring it, in support of the sometimes priestly work of those who, throughout France, have taken the oath of heritage, but also because I form the wish of a merit that is not that of disavowal, I will receive this decoration with humility but not without joy when the uncertainty hanging over the future of the spared stained glass windows of Notre-Dame has been lifted.
Far from being unchanging, historic monuments, witnesses to excellence, are fertile ground for creation.
For them, architecture and contemporary art are a guarantee of continuity, as long as they are added to and not substituted for them".
Antoine-Marie Préaut is doubly deserving of this award: for his contribution to saving Notre-Dame, and for his refusal to decorate it until the stained glass windows he feels it is his duty to protect have been definitively spared. This public stance is commendable, and we hope that other recipients of the Légion d’honneur or Ordre national du mérite will follow suit. In any case, we appeal to them.
The fight to save Notre-Dame’s stained glass windows is far from over. We must continue to put pressure on the executive by signing and getting others to sign the petition, by publicly displaying our opposition to this evil deed against the cathedral and our common heritage, and by financially supporting the Sites & Monuments association, which will soon be taking this fight to court.
There is still time for the President of the Republic and the Minister of Culture to abandon this project, which runs counter to all the principles of heritage protection for which they are responsible.