Re: Notre-Dame cathedral: Firefighters tackle blaze in Paris
Will the renovated Notre-Dame become a woke ‘Disneyland’?
The fire of 2019 ravaged the iconic Paris cathedral, but it’s still under threat of further damage according to high-profile members of French cultural society, who are slamming the approved restoration project.
https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/54380...me-disneyland/
Barely had the flames been extinguished than French President Emmanuel Macron had promised to rebuild Notre-Dame in an “even more beautiful” way. Well, it looks like his idea was perceived quite differently by many.
First, there was the matter of the roof. As the iconic wooden spire collapsed entirely, designers started to wonder whether a glass roof or one capable of generating solar energy would fit the building better.
Or maybe there should be a greenhouse? It was finally decided that it should be rebuilt just as it had been before.
Regarding the interior, however, a far less conservative decision was reached. On December 9, National Heritage and Architecture Commission experts approved a radical redesign project, sparking a huge wave of criticism.
Father Gilles Drouin, who is in charge of the interior renovations, told the media that, apart from changes to the cathedral lighting and the acquisition of new benches, the plan included Bible quotes in several languages projected on the walls, as well as modern art installations to replace some of the little-used 19th-century confessionals.
The idea of bringing contemporary vibes to a centuries-old cathedral doesn’t sit well with prominent figures of the cultural community. Indeed, 100 of them published an open letter protesting against the modernization of the cathedral.
“When we are talking about Notre-Dame, we are not talking about a random monument – we are talking about the most significant French monument. It’s more than a regular discussion about art restoration and legacy, but also about a symbol,” doctor of philosophy Sami Biasoni, who signed the letter, told RT. “There’s a chance for a change, so they [the authorities] want to make it as contemporary as any kind of a museum, but it’s not a regular museum.”
Notre-Dame de Paris to become a Disneyland?
Those who devised the restoration plan insist it will offer visitors a better opportunity to understand its cultural background. Father Drouin told the AFP news agency that, before the fire, it was noticed that more Chinese tourists had started to light candles in a chapel dedicated to a Chinese martyr when texts in Mandarin were installed there.
Still, critics of the project accuse the authorities of trying to turn the cathedral into a theme park. “It’s as if Disney were entering Notre-Dame,” architect and urbanist Maurice Culot told The Telegraph.
Albert Doja, professor of anthropology at the University of Lille, who also signed the open letter, insists its historical background must be preserved regardless of religious or commercial issues. “I think that Notre-Dame de Paris is a historical monument. It’s part of our cultural heritage. So, it’s not only a touristic place,” he told RT.
Biasoni thinks Notre-Dame visitors want to access French history and culture – “to touch and to feel it.”
“Modernity is everywhere, I love it, but we need to have the places where we celebrate the past,” he insists.
“I visited both these places, and I felt cultural proximity to Turkish and Russian people because I was offered an opportunity to be engaged in their past,” Biasoni says.
Professor Doja added that erasing parts of the historical background for the sake of modern tendencies may even damage people’s self-identification. “Culture is part of people’s identity, no matter how much they know about it. Maybe they are not even aware of that,” he told RT. “The history, the culture, the language, their relations with each other, the way how they behave, the way they think – these are the things that define people.”
Full article with many more images at:
https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/54380...me-disneyland/
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