New stained glass windows could be installed in Notre-Dame de Paris, but nothing has yet been decided.
One year before the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral to the public, work on the site undertaken after the fire of April 15, 2019 continues on schedule. The total end of the work is planned for the end of the decade between 2029 and 2030 as indicated by the Elysée. This Friday, the president will go to the top of the spire where the last part was installed this Wednesday, December 6.
The Elysée announced this Wednesday that the Head of State will pay tribute in particular to General Jean-Louis Georgelin who supervised the work since the fire until his death in the summer of 2022. His name should be engraved on the spire of the cathedral.
This visit this Friday will also be an opportunity for the president to respond to the letter sent to him by the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Laurent Ulrich, this Monday, December 4. In this letter, made public by RTL this Wednesday, the Archbishop of Paris expresses his wish to the Head of State to replace certain stained glass windows of the cathedral in the side chapels of the nave to bring the 2019 fire into the history of the place.
The goal would not be to tell the story of the fire, as Mgr Ulrich indicates, but to insert more contemporary stained glass windows in a “figurative” style but which would nevertheless preserve a part of traditional Christian art “which meditates on the face and figure”, to use the archbishop’s words. The latter would like the replaced stained glass windows, “grisailles” by the 19th century French architect Viollet-le-Duc, to be preserved in a museum on the cathedral still in planning. In order to create these new stained glass windows, Bishop Ulrich suggested in his letter addressed to the Head of State that the artist responsible for creating the new stained glass windows be designated through a competition open to interested artists.
Notre-Dame de Paris would not be the only cathedral in France decorated with modern stained glass windows. Since 2022, Bayeux Cathedral, in Normandy, has had stained glass windows created by French artist Véronique Joumard. The artist created stained glass windows in colorful tones using the glass prism which allows the color to be reflected inside the cathedral in ever different shades depending on the light.
In the Marne, the famous Reims Cathedral also has contemporary stained glass windows created by the German artist Imi Knoebel (above). Inaugurated in 2015, these stained glass windows installed in the Jeanne d’Arc chapel present freedom in form, being composed of shapes that are both geometric and unstructured. They are also very colorful with shades of blue, red and yellow. They could inspire the modern stained glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris.