The administrative court of justice will have to rule on the French President’s decision to add his own personal touch to the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by installing contemporary stained glass windows.
Following the 15 April 2019 fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a major fundraising campaign was launched to rebuild the cathedral. A law of 29 July 2019 launched an open national subscription for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral placed under the high authority of the President of the French Republic.
It is this law that the Sites & Monuments Association is invoking to block the French President’s decision to replace the stained glass windows of Viollet-le-Duc with contemporary ones that “bear the stamp of the 21st century” (announced during a visit to the site on 8 December 2023). On 18 December 2024, Emmanuel Macron and the Archbishop of Paris announced that they had chosen Claire Tabouret to create these contemporary stained glass windows.
Much to the dismay of the Tribune de l’Art, which denounced the lack of respect for the heritage code. “The stained glass windows were untouched by the fire and are listed as historic monuments, as is the monument itself (…) These windows are only of interest in situ, as an integral part of the architecture [designed by Violet-Leduc],” writes the site’s founder, Didier Rkyner.
A number of legal actions are planned. The first, before the Paris Administrative tribunal, challenges the competence of the public institution responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral to organise the replacement of the stained glass windows. This institution is only competent to act within the framework of the law and the decree governing “the conservation and restoration of the cathedral”. It would not have the right to organise the contract for the design, production and installation of contemporary stained glass windows. The association then intends to challenge the planning permission issued by the Prefect of Paris. It could also seek to have the French government condemned for misappropriating funds from the national subscription (it should be noted that the cost of the contemporary stained glass windows could be in the region of €3.7 million).
However, recourse to Article 432-15 of the French Penal Code, which makes it an offence for anyone acting on behalf of a public authority to remove an object of public interest from the public domain, seems doomed to failure. In fact, there has never been any question of challenging public access to the replaced stained glass windows. To be continued.
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