In front of the treasures of Notre-Dame, Rachida Dati praises the “essential mission” of archaeologists

An anonymous warehouse like hundreds of others in the middle of the rapeseed fields. The destination was not obvious for the Minister of Culture. However, it is in this secure and secret enclosure in the greater Parisian suburbs that some of the most beautiful treasures of Notre-Dame de Paris are kept. Rachida Dati discovered them, speechless, on Friday, guided by teams from Inrap (National Institute of Preventive Archeology), who carried out the excavations on the Île de la Cité.

Their discoveries command admiration: from the floors of the nave and the transept crossing, just a few centimeters below the paving, archaeologists have extracted no less than 1035 elements of the medieval rood screen which separated, until the 17th century, the nave from the choir. This immense Parisian limestone partition was entirely sculpted and depicted the Passion of Christ. However, with the exception of a handful of elements taken by Viollet-le-Duc and presented at the Louvre, the trace of almost the entirety of this 13th century ensemble was lost. “From an architectural and artistic point of view, the elements of the rood screen that we found are the counterpart of the three portals of the facade,” exclaims Christophe Besnier, who led the excavation site with Hélène Civalleri.

Also read: With Inrap, the French discover their “heritage of tomorrow” according to Dominique Garcia

Arranged in wooden boxes for the most important pieces (up to 400 kilos) and sometimes simple padded plastic boxes for the most fragile elements, we discover here a majestic decorated gable, there small feet with each of the fingers sculpted (the sculptor's fantasy because the public certainly could not see them at the time). Even more impressive: many pieces, which have not yet been cleared of their matrix of sand and sediment, present colors of remarkable freshness. An immense carmine drape, the painted pupils and eyebrows of a face and, everywhere, these large areas of blue decorated with golden stars which served as decorations for the scenes.

In front of the minister, Philippe Jost, who supervises the reconstruction of the cathedral, and Dominique Garcia, president of Inrap, do not hide their pride and display their complicity: the preventive excavations carried out in the nave before the installation of the scaffolding 100 meters high and 700 tonnes were certainly four times longer than expected but the discoveries are exceptional. Of the 840 million collected for reconstruction, less than 6 million were devoted to this part of the program which includes not only the extraction of pieces but also surveys, the study of materials, the conservation of artifacts including the stabilization of fragile colors of the rood screen sculptures. And the whole will be made available to the State, which will be responsible for exhibiting it in the future, probably in the future museum of the Work of Notre-Dame de Paris.

Archeology and heritage, hand in hand? The opportunity was ripe for Rachida Dati to clarify her statements from two weeks ago. During a trip to the Château de Dampierre, the minister hoped that in the future preventive excavations for works would be limited to “essential requirements” and that “exemptions would be possible”. I prefer “to put money into restoring heritage rather than digging a hole for a hole,” she said. The outing had bristled the rather discreet environment of archaeologists and particularly at Inrap, “your Inrap, Madam Minister”, repeated its director general Daniel Guérin.

In front of archaeologists, Rachida Dati assured Friday that there was no question of modifying the law and the rules governing preventive excavations. “On the contrary,” she insisted. Of course, local elected officials or private owners can be hindered in their projects by the architects of French buildings or archaeologists. But their work is necessary for our history, for our culture. And their essential mission.” “There is no reason to oppose heritage and archaeology, ever,” insisted the minister before launching an invitation to those who worked on the Notre-Dame excavations. “I want to see all the teams, to thank them. I don’t want anyone to be forgotten.” Message transmitted.