Completely ignoring the opinion of the Commission nationale du patrimoine et de l’architecture, sitting on the wishes of Notre-Dame’s donors to see the cathedral restored to its original state and Viollet-le-Duc’s legacy preserved, and scorning the nearly 150,000 signatories of our petition (which you can still sign, if you haven’t already done so), French Culture Minister Rachida Dati yesterday issued a press release stating that she had selected eight candidates for the ‘second phase consisting of proposing a project’. In so doing, she is going against her mission to protect our heritage, in order to satisfy the whims of Emmanuel Macron and the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich.
Among these artists, who do not have the same ethical conception or respect for heritage as Pascal Convert, who withdrew from the competition (despite being selected as one of the finalists), is Daniel Buren! And yet we were assured that these stained glass windows would be figurative, which is certainly not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of him. It doesn’t matter: we’re not contesting the stained glass windows that will be proposed, which we obviously haven’t seen, but we are fighting against the principle of replacing the stained glass windows by Viollet-le-Duc, which are part of the historic monument, were not damaged by the fire and have even been restored.
Faced with this determination, which nothing seems to be able to stop, it is now time to move up a gear and, as soon as possible, take legal action. An association for the protection of heritage (the French oldest, recognised as being of public utility), Sites & Monuments, is ready to do just that, either as soon as authorisation for work is granted, or if it is possible (only a lawyer can determine this), as soon as the competition is already well advanced.
The association needs help to finance the costly procedures involved. We are therefore going to ask the signatories of the petition to contribute through their donations to the defence of Notre-Dame de Paris. If the project were to be abandoned, or if the amount raised were to exceed the needs, the surplus would be allocated to the other heritage battles of Sites & Monuments, and if you read La Tribune de l’Art, you know that the threats are multiple and incessant. These donations are of course tax-deductible for French taxpayers. You can donate here. Thank you in advance.