Notre-Dame de Paris: will Emmanuel Macron give the green light for the addition of contemporary stained glass windows?

We thought the matter had been buried; now she returns in majesty. In a letter sent to the President of the Republic at the beginning of December, Mgr Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, affirmed his wish to see a series of new stained glass windows commissioned, in order to anchor Notre-Dame de Paris in its century. The letter, which summarized several exchanges between the President of the Republic and the archbishop, was made public by RTL on Wednesday. Two days before Emmanuel Macron's visit to the site, which is entering its last year before the reopening planned for December 2025, the Élysée chose to put the subject back on the table. “When he is on the construction site, the President of the Republic should respond to the suggestion of Mgr Ulrich, who will accompany him,” the President of the Republic announces.

What can the president “answer” if not in the affirmative? Since the fire of 2019, Emmanuel Macron has sought to mark the restoration of the cathedral in the century. Initially, he had promoted the idea of ​​a “contemporary architectural gesture”, suggesting an international competition of architects for the reconstruction of the missing spire. Faced with the outcry, he gave up. In 2021, the idea of ​​contemporary stained glass windows arose for the first time, through the diocese of Paris. Here again, an outcry had pushed back the suggestion, contained in a more global project for the development of the interior of Notre-Dame. The Minister of Culture at the time, Roselyne Bachelot, even indicated that it was “impossible” to create new stained glass windows without dismantling others. Impossible thing because, she insisted, everything was classified in the cathedral. The National Commission for Heritage and Architecture (CNPA), meeting in conclave, also spoke out against the project.

This obviously does not prevent the archbishop and the presidency from bringing the subject back to the table. “This would allow us to leave a trace of April 15, 2019 and the five years of closure,” we explain to the archdiocese. According to our information, this would involve creating stained glass windows in the chapels of the nave. The artistic commission would replace “grisailles” (non-figurative stained glass windows) from the Viollet-le-Duc era. It would be, with the new liturgical furniture ordered from Guillaume Bardet and the new rooster which will adorn the spire, the mark of the century in this 850-year-old monument. The implementation of the project will be the responsibility, in any case, of the State, owner of the walls.