12/6/25 - Heritage - Palais du Louvre and Notre-Dame - We will return later to the heritage aspect of the Louvre Renaissance project examined this morning by the CNPA (Commission nationale du patrimoine et de l’architecture [1]).
According to our information, the project has evolved since the publication of the "Expression des besoins" document. Apparently, there are no longer any plans to cover the moats with a glass roof, and the "architectural gesture" is no longer on the agenda, nor is the piercing of the walls of Philippe-Auguste’s Louvre or the piercing of the floors of the north and south staircases of the Colonnade. All this remains to be confirmed.
However, the Commission did not have to rule on the other scandalous aspects of this project: its staggering cost – which has not been financed at the time of writing – or the reorganisation of the Louvre to display fewer works, and many other things besides. We will return very soon to the summary of the "workshops" that we have begun to look at here and to all the Louvre’s failings in its mission, which will be further aggravated in the future.
As for the stained glass windows of Notre-Dame, there is no doubt that the Minister of Culture will want to claim victory. She would be wrong to do so.
Firstly, the CNPA refused to comment on Claire Tabouret’s project, which was the desired objective, since it had unanimously opposed the removal of the stained glass windows. As it only has an advisory role, and the minister wanted to push ahead against this opinion, it had no choice but to take note of this decision, which it did, but added that it reiterated its opinion of 11 July 2024.
As this new text was approved unanimously by the members, including civil servants, only one conclusion can be drawn: they too endorse the July opinion and are therefore opposed to this project.
Taking note of this, they expressed the wish that, if the project were to go ahead, Viollet-le-Duc’s stained glass windows should be preserved and immediately restored [2]. And that they be presented to the public immediately after their restoration, which de facto excludes the Musée de l’Œuvre, which, unfortunately, is unlikely to see the light of day.
There is therefore no endorsement of Claire Tabouret’s project, on which they refused to comment, and a reminder of the negative opinion on the plan to remove the stained glass windows. It will be difficult for the President of the Republic or the Minister to claim that they have a favourable opinion. Yet this is what we are beginning to read here and there.
It now seems that the project’s promoters want to move very quickly, with manufacturing due to start this summer and the installation of the first stained-glass window scheduled for the start of the new school year. But the fight continues, both with the petition, which must absolutely continue to be signed and circulated, and in the courts.
The first stage is underway, challenging the legitimacy of the public institution as project owner, and a second stage will follow as soon as the building permit is issued, with a request for an interim injunction.
The politicians who are going to commit to costly work that will, we hope, be prohibited by the courts will have to answer for such use of public funds at a time of widespread budgetary restrictions.