Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 17 april 2019

Notre Dame hailed as monument to the ‘best of civilization’

By JOCELYN NOVECK lio Bermudez, professor at
Associated Press the school of architecture
NEW YORK (AP) — Notre and planning at Catholic
Dame, a survivor of wars University in Washington,
and revolutions, has stood D.C. “One of course is the
for centuries as not merely crown of thorns ... the faith-
the greatest of the Gothic ful believe this is the crown
cathedrals and a towering that the Savior put on his
jewel of Western architec- head. It’s kept in a very safe
ture. place. But you know the
It has stood, in the words of fire is tremendously dam-
one shell-shocked art ex- aging.” He also expressed
pert, as “one of the great concern about the beau-
monuments to the best of tiful stained-glass windows,
civilization.” which he called “really irre-
And so it was that across placeable.”
the globe Monday, a Those worried about the ca-
stunned and helpless art thedral’s durability could,
world wept alongside the perhaps, take solace in
people of France as a mas- one of Notre Dame’s more
sive fire ravaged the be- fascinating survival stories.
loved cathedral. In 1977, workers demolish-
“Civilization is just so frag- ing a wall in another part of
ile,” said Barbara Drake This 1987 file photo shows the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Art experts around the world reacted Paris discovered 21 heads
Boehm, senior curator at with horror to news of the fire that ravaged cathedral on Monday, April 15, 2019. belonging to 13th-century
the Metropolitan Museum Associated Press statues from the cathedral.
of Art’s medieval Cloisters ing its two main towers. tion of Victor Hugo’s novel glass rose windows, and The kings of Judea, which
branch in New York, her Much of the roof was de- “The Hunchback of Notre- the elegant exterior carv- were a prime example of
voice shaking as she tried stroyed. Dame.” This led to two de- ings. Gothic art, had been taken
to put into words what the The exact cause of the cades of restorations, in- “There are a lot of details from Notre Dame during
cathedral meant. “This blaze wasn’t known, but cluding the cathedral’s fa- that remind one of intri- the French Revolution and
great hulking monument of French media quoted the mous flying buttresses and cate lace,” she said, “even guillotined by antiroyalists
stone has been there since fire brigade as saying it was a reconstructed spire. though it’s a building of who mistakenly thought
1163. It’s come through so “potentially linked” to a 6 While most kings were cold hard stone.” they represented French
many trials.” million euro ($6.8 million) crowned elsewhere, Napo- Aside from the structure, art kings.
“It’s not one relic, not one renovation project on the leon Bonaparte made sure experts were concerned The heads, which were
piece of glass — it’s the to- church’s spire and its 250 he was crowned there in about the fate of countless thought to be lost, are now
tality,” she said, struggling tons of lead. The Paris Pros- 1804, and married there in priceless artworks and arti- displayed in the capital’s
to find words expansive ecutor’s office, which was 1810. facts inside, including rel- Cluny Museum.
enough to describe the ca- investigating, said it was Experts note that Notre ics like the crown of thorns, The mourning was not
thedral’s significance. “It’s treating it as an accident. Dame is an aesthetically which is only occasion- limited to the art world.
the very soul of Paris, but it’s Construction on Notre smooth synthesis of differ- ally displayed. Paris Mayor Religious leaders, too, ex-
not just for French people. Dame — French for “Our ent centuries. “It all blends Anne Hidalgo later said on pressed deep sorrow over
For all humanity, it’s one of Lady” — began in the together so harmoniously,” Twitter that the crown of the devastation.
the great monuments to 12th century and contin- said Nancy Wu, a medi- thorns and the tunic of St Cardinal Timothy Dolan,
the best of civilization.” ued for nearly 200 years. eval architecture expert Louis were among the arti- the archbishop of New
Boehm spoke shortly be- It sustained damage and and educator at the Met facts saved. York, said he was praying
fore the Paris fire chief an- fell into neglect during the Cloisters. She said she was “This cathedral has a num- for Notre Dame, which he
nounced that firefighters French Revolution, but re- struck by delicacy of the ber of elements that are called “second maybe to
had been able to finally ceived renewed attention structure, as well as that in not just famous but reli- St. Peter’s Basilica, (in) ...
save the structure, includ- following the 1831 publica- the three stunning stained- giously significant,” said Ju- the ability of a church to lift
our minds and hearts back
to the Lord.”
“For the French, my God, for
the world, Notre Dame Ca-
thedral represents what’s
most notable, what’s most
uplifting, what’s most inspi-
rational about the human
project,” he said.
Boehm, at the Cloisters,
found herself thinking
about how the cathedral
is at once of the past, and
of the present — a living,
vibrant building, despite its
age. “When you step inside
it, you have at once the
sense of everything that
This April 18, 1967, file photo, shows the Notre Dame Cathedral In this Friday, June 3, 2016 file photo, a man paints the Notre came before, and every-
in Paris. Art experts around the world reacted with horror to news Dame cathedral surrounded by the flooding Seine river in Paris,
of the fire that ravaged cathedral on Monday, April 15, 2019. France. thing that’s still current,” she
Associated Press Associated Press said.q