The Ministry of Culture announced on Wednesday, September 4, that eight candidates were in the running to create contemporary stained glass windows for Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, despite the negative opinion of the heritage commission.
The competition to decorate the chapels of Notre-Dame de Paris with contemporary stained glass windows continues. The Ministry of Culture announced this on Wednesday, September 4, in a press release confirming information from Le Figaro.
“Following the first phase of the consultation for the creation of contemporary stained glass windows for Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in six chapels on the south aisle of the nave, eight applications were selected for the second phase, which consisted of proposing a project,” he explains.
The artists and glassmakers still in the competition are: Jean-Michel Alberola (Atelier Duchemin), Daniel Buren (Manufacture Vincent-Petit-Atelier Duchemin), Philippe Parreno (Atelier Simon Marq), Yan Pai-Ming (Atelier Duchemin), Christine Safa (Atelier Simon Marq-Derix Studio GMBH), Claire Tabouret (Atelier Simon Marq), Gérard Traquandi (Atelier Duchemin) and Flavie Vincent-Petit (Manufacture Vincent-Petit).
The choice was made in partnership with the opinion of the artistic committee chaired by Bernard Blistène, who has been supporting the diocese and the State since March 8. The selected groups now have until November 4 to submit their projects before the final choice of the selected project.
A wish from President Macron
This project was launched at the initiative of the President of the Republic last December, more than four years after the fire on the roof of the cathedral and the collapse of its spire. “It is with my full agreement that we are going to launch a competition that will allow contemporary artists to submit, on the basis of an order that will be placed, a figurative work,” he declared during a site visit.
However, this proposal by Emmanuel Macron immediately caused an outcry in heritage and architecture circles. Didier Rykner, editorial director of La tribune de l’art, launched a petitiondeploring a unilateral decision, “without any regard for the heritage code or for Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris”.
A negative opinion from the experts
In July, the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture (CNPA) unanimously gave an unfavourable opinion from its 40 expert members because these contemporary stained glass windows would replace creations by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc dating from the 19th century, as Le Figaro points out.
Opponents of the project rely on the international charter on the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites known as the Venice Charter. Adopted in 1965 by France, it recommends “harmonious integration (…) so that the restoration does not falsify an art and history document.”
