Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris narrowly survived being destroyed by a raging inferno on April 16, 2019. Now it appears that what the fire failed to do may be accomplished by those responsible for its renovation. Under controversial “restoration” plans seen by The Telegraph, the French Gothic structure, which has stood for more than 800 years, will be remade into a “politically correct Disneyland.”
It is a matter of history that Notre Dame — a symbol of Christianity in France, across Europe, and around the world — survived the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars as well as two world wars. To be sure, the cathedral saw dark days during those tumultuous conflicts, but it survived and continued to stand. And as it stood, it stood as a beacon of faith and hope, calling people to the truth of Christianity. But as dark as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and two world wars were, they were brilliant light when contrasted with the deep darkness of post-modern, deconstructionist “wokeness.”
As The Telegraph reports, the proposed renovation plans will turn the world-famous cathedral into an “experimental showroom” devoid of anything truly religious or anything truly beautiful. From The Telegraph:
Under the proposed changes, confessional boxes, altars and classical sculptures will be replaced with modern art murals, and new sound and light effects to create “emotional spaces.”
There will be themed chapels on a “discovery trail”, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia, while quotes from the Bible will be projected onto chapel walls in various languages, including Mandarin.
The final chapel on the trail will have a strong environmental emphasis.
“It’s as if Disney were entering Notre-Dame,” said Maurice Culot, a prize-winning Paris-based architect, urbanist, theorist and critic who has seen the plans.
“What they are proposing to do to Notre-Dame would never be done to Westminster Abbey or Saint Peter’s in Rome. It’s a kind of theme park and very childish and trivial given the grandeur of the place,” he told The Telegraph.
The Telegraph cites a senior source close to the renovation as saying the proposed renovation risks turning the global beacon of Christianity into an “experimental showroom” that would “mutilate” the work of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the celebrated architect who restored the cathedral following the ravishes of the French Revolution in an effort to recapture the spirit of Medieval Christianity. That senior source added, “This is political correctness gone mad. They want to turn Notre-Dame into an experimental liturgical showroom that exists nowhere else whereas it should be a landmark where the slightest change must be handled with great care.”
But that is precisely the point. This plan is not “careless” — it is quite deliberate. And the end goal appears to be the purposeful destruction of a structure that stands for Christian beauty so that it can be replaced by a tacky thing that represents the ugly emptiness of hopelessness.
According to the plans, the exterior would be faithfully restored as close as possible to the original; the interior is where things get weird. According to The Telegraph,
Initially Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister at the time, said he would launch an international competition to rebuild the destroyed roof and spire, potentially with a modern design “that bears the mark of our time.”
After widespread uproar over architectural flights of fancy, one which even included a swimming pool, the contest was scrapped and the spire, roof and medieval wooden beams are all to be rebuilt as faithfully as possible to the original designs.
However, the same cannot be said for the interior given current plans, seen by The Telegraph and two European media outlets.
And:
Under the proposals, visitors will pass through the main entrance and be shepherded towards 14 themed chapels depicting Genesis, Abraham, Exodus and the Prophets but also the five continents.
While Africa and Asia will have pride of place, Europe, the Americas and Oceania will either be less evident behind the apse or totally absent. The tour ends at a chapel dedicated to “reconciled creation,” namely environmentalism as set out in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ encyclical.
In the wake of the April 16, 2019 fire that threatened to destroy the cathedral, this writer wrote an article asking a question. The question was, “Notre Dame Survived. How About Christian Europe?” That question remains to be answered, and the full answer may not come in our time, but if the “woke” “Disney” renovation of Notre Dame is any indication, things do not look good. Toward the end of that article, this writer wrote:
With the fire extinguished and the edifice intact, there are already plans to rebuild. French President Emmanuel Macron has reached out to the world to raise the needed funds to restore Notre Dame. As of this writing, nearly $1 billion has been pledged to the restoration of this symbol of Christianity. Funds have been pledged by wealthy individuals, companies, and religious groups.
Notre Dame will be rebuilt. Thank God.
In retrospect, perhaps it would have better if it had not survived, so it could not be perverted and polluted. Because it would be a damned shame if the pictures of Notre Dame — taken in the aftermath of the fire, with smoldering embers and wafting smoke in the foreground and the altar of God in the background — turn out to be more beautiful than the post-modern, deconstructionist theme park its “saviors” plan to turn it into.
