Architectural conservationists are up in arms over plans to take out stained glass windows undamaged during the fire at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris nearly five years ago and replace them with new designs.
They say that Emmanuel Macron's proposal to have Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's windows removed from six of the seven chapels on the south aisle and for fresh pieces to be inserted would be nonsensical.
Macron's suggestion that Viollet-le-Ducvollet's windows from the mid 19th century could be placed in the new Musée de l'Œuvre Notre Dame near the cathedral was denounced as a scandal.
An online petition has harvested nearly 130,000 signatures since Macron's visit to Notre-Dame on 8 December when he announced the plans for a competition to choose new designs for stained glass windows.
Didier Zykner, editor of La Tribune de l'Art magazine, who set up the petition, wrote: "Viollet-le-Duc's stained glass windows were created as a coherent whole. It is a genuine creation that the architect wanted to be faithful to the cathedral's Gothic origins.
"The president of the republic has decided on his own, without any regard for the heritage law or Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris."
Viollet-le-Duc is one of the renowned giants in French art and literature. His restoration projects included the Basilica of Saint Denis just outside Paris and Mont Saint Michel in Normandy.
His theories on decoration and on the link between form and function in architecture influenced a plethora of designers from Anton Gaudi, Hector Guimard to Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
Chance
"Contemporary stained glass windows have their place in old architecture when the original ones have disappeared," added Zykner. "They are not intended to replace works that already exist.
"After all, these stained glass windows, which are – deliberately – purely decorative compositions with geometric decorations, are only of interest in situ, as an integral part of the architecture.
"They would have no meaning outside the architecture, and would take up a very large space in the rooms of the Hôtel Dieu, preventing other works from being displayed there, without any benefit to the public.
"If these windows were to be replaced, they would certainly end up in storage crates, because exhibiting them in the museum would actually double the scandal of their removal."
Soon after the fire on 15 April 2019, Macron vowed that the 860-year-old cathedral would be rebuilt.
Millions were pledged in donations as the restoration work got underway. The cathedral is scheduled to reopen on 8 December 2024.
Sense
Zykner added: "What sense does it make to restore the cathedral to its last known historical state only to deprive the building of an essential element that Viollet-le-Duc wanted?
"How can it be justified to restore stained glass windows that survived the disaster and then immediately remove them? Who gave the head of state a mandate to alter a cathedral that does not belong to him, but to everyone?"
The petition calls for Macron's plan to be scrapped. And the campaign has gained backing from the influential Académie des Beaux-Arts – one of France's most august cultural institutions.
"The academicians feel that the work of today's artists should not be at the expense of removing existing decorations," it said in a statement.
"The Académie des Beaux-Arts hopes that other locations, starting with the North Tower, will be considered for this commission for contemporary stained glass.
"In this way, the project will further embellish this heritage and symbolically mark the cathedral's new lease of life."
