An article published three days ago in La Tribune, written by Philippe D’Indevillers, tells us that the chief architect of historic monuments, Philippe Villeneuve, regrets that ‘the archbishop of Paris has refused the return of the crown of light, a large neo-Gothic chandelier drawn by Viollet-le-Duc, on long-term loan to the Saint-Denis basilica, where it hangs above the altar’.
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- 1. Placide Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889) after Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)
Crown of light
D. 350 cm
Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame, photographed here in the Saint-Denis basilica
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
We have already mentioned the case of the large chandelier in the transept crossing (see article) which, after restoration, was long-term loaned to the Saint-Denis basilica in 2014, even though it and the twelve smaller chandeliers that accompanied it were created by Viollet-le-Duc specifically for Notre-Dame as part of its restoration. We wrote at the time: ‘Cardinal Lustiger had continued this erasure of the great architect’s work by sending for long-term loan the crown of light that adorned the transept crossing [...], by removing the choir gate and removing the candelabras and cross from the high altar’.
In a letter dated 3 February 1986, kept at the Médiathèque du Patrimoine et de la Photographie, the Inspector General of Historic Monuments, Georges Costa, wrote about another matter concerning the cathedral (the planned long-term loan to Orsay of the lectern - ill. 2 - belonging to the same ensemble created by Viollet-le-Duc): ‘I can only deplore the disturbing ease with which the clergy seem ready to get rid of religious objects - a list of which I would like to know - on the pretext that they are no longer in use, even though they belong to the cathedral’s historical heritage’.
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- 2. Placide Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889), after Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)
Large lectern of Notre-Dame
Silverware, bronze, gilded iron
Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame
Unidentified photographer - See the image in its page
Almost forty years later, this sad observation is still all too relevant. Since then, although the lectern has remained at Notre-Dame (although obviously not in its natural location, the choir), the diocese, and in this case Mgr Lustiger, has continued to remove the furniture designed by Viollet-le-Duc. And the new archbishop, Mgr Ulrich, whose contempt for heritage we have already denounced here on several occasions, is not to be outdone. Contrary to what the public institution initially told us, it was indeed the archbishop who opposed the reinstallation of the crown of light in Notre-Dame. It was also the diocese (and therefore Mgr Lustiger) who, in 2004, asked for the crown of light to be removed from the transept crossing. Ten years later, following its restoration, the Ministry of Culture decided to move it to Saint-Denis, rather than forcing its reinstallation.
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- 2. Placide Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889) after Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)
Crown of light
D. 350 cm
Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame, long-term loaned to the basilique de Saint-Denis
Photo: J. Gourbeix/Médiathèque du patrimoine et de l’architecture - See the image in its page
The decision, dated 5 March 2014, was signed for the Prefect of Île-de-France by Dominique Cerclet, who was then the Regional Conservator of Historic Monuments. He dared to write that: ‘the relocation of the crown of light and [of the] twelve chandeliers from the nave of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris to the basilica of Saint-Denis is not such as to damage the historic monument’, which will come as no great surprise to faithful readers of La Tribune de l’Art [1]. Perhaps, however, he was referring to the Saint-Denis basilica, which is not in any way affected by this crown of light? As for Notre-Dame, it was the diocese’s desire to do away with it that led to its exile to Saint-Denis. In fact, the clergy were simply continuing the gradual erasure of Viollet-le-Duc’s contribution, which had also affected the cathedral’s lighting. Indeed, the twelve chandeliers that accompanied it had been moved in 1903, when they were electrified, under the side arches of the nave.
However, as the architect Philippe Villeneuve confirmed, a project to reinstall the lights was proposed when the cathedral was restored after the fire: ‘the idea was to reinstate the crown of light at the transept crossing, eight chandeliers in the nave and four in the choir, in accordance with Viollet-le-Duc’s original layout’. And it was the clergy who objected: ‘they don’t want this crown of light, nor the return of the chandeliers in the nave’.
The diocese replied that the installation of the chandeliers under the side arches of the nave had ‘liberated the purity of the Gothic vault’ and that it was ‘the scientific and technical decisions of the State services in September 2021 [that] did not lead to the repositioning of the chandeliers in the nave and choir’ It added that: ‘the government departments responsible for this decision did not express any desire to see the crown of light returned to the cathedral after the fire. It therefore did not seem appropriate to the diocese to replace the crown of light on its own at the crossing’.
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- 4. Placide Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889) and Jules Dumoutet (1815-1880)
Crown of light
Bourges, cathédrale Saint-Étienne
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
It’s a complete smoke and mirrors operation.. As Philippe Villeneuve confirmed, the clergy refused. He adds that this reason does not hold water, since at Bourges cathedral there is a crown of light in the choir (ill. 4), as well as chandeliers in the nave (ill. 5), without this in any way detracting from the liturgy or ‘the purity of the Gothic vault’. As the diocese was unable to justify this explanation, it was careful not to give it to us, referring to purely imaginary ‘scientific and technical’ reasons. On the contrary, according to the architect: ‘There is no technical reason to refuse the return of these chandeliers and crown of light’. Better still, there would be no difficulty in implementing the project: ‘In the old framework, there were still the pulleys, and these survived the fire. It would be fairly easy and inexpensive to replace the chandeliers in the nave and the crown of lights at the transept crossing with the original fixtures’.
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- 5. Chandeliers in the nave of Bourges cathedral which - what a miracle! -
do not harm the purity of the Gothic vault... - See the image in its page
That would be easy, but the clergy doesn’t want it, and the public institution certainly doesn’t want to upset them. Concordant (and well-informed) sources have informed us that the project to restore Viollet-le-Duc’s original layout, which was never submitted to the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, was not even submitted to the scientific committee: in fact, it was supposed to be presented to the committee, but this entire section was redacted. What could not be done to please the diocese?
Because while the owner of a church building is, to a certain extent, free to modify the interior layout for liturgical reasons, he can’t do just anything unless he is authorised to do so by the Ministry of Culture. This is exactly what happened here, first in 2004 when, for obscure liturgical reasons, the diocese decided that a crown of light at the transept crossing was no longer tolerable, then in 2014 when it was sent to Saint-Denis (where no one seems to mind that it interferes with the ‘purity of the Gothic vault’), and today when the whole thing could be restored to the coherence intended by Viollet-le-Duc, whose work and fittings, as we keep repeating, are listed as a historic monument.
After all, it is the diocese’s right to ask for something. But it would be the duty of the Ministry of Culture to refuse it. Not only could it classify the chandeliers and the crown of lights as an indissociable whole, and it could do so in situ as the heritage law has made possible for some years now [2]. In addition, article 2 of the decision on the long-term loan of the crown to Saint-Denis explicitly states that ‘in the event of termination of the long-term loan at the request of the assigning clergy or the State’. [3], the crown of light will be moved and redeposited in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris’.
Once again, the Ministry of Culture is to blame, and rather than playing its part in protecting historic monuments, it is submitting to the diktats of the diocese without batting an eyelid. Its explanations are particularly specious: it claims that ‘there is no question here of going down the road of removing the elements created by Viollet-le-Duc for the cathedral, since this object was no longer in the building five years before the fire, and had not been in its original location since 2007 [4]». Everyone can judge the relevance and bona fides of this argument.
As for the liturgy, a pretext that was enough for the French clergy in the 1960s and 1970s to carry out the worst vandalism of religious heritage since the Revolution, it could be said that it is too important to entrust it to the diocese of Paris.