We spent an afternoon at the cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, in 2014 and it was delightful and amazing as you might expect. My favorite memory is the little girl in the picture above, so happy to feed the sparrows that gather in the courtyard.
It will probably be a while before we know what was lost in today’s fire. I heard that much of the art inside the building had been removed for the renovation. Still, there is undoubtedly a great deal that was irreplaceable and is lost forever.
One of my strongest impressions of Notre Dame is that it is what architectural theorist Christopher Alexander would call a “living structure.” There was a quality of “aliveness” in the structure of the building, in the relationship of various parts of the building to each other and in the relationships between the cathedral and the city itself. I think this “aliveness” is exemplified by the little girl feeding the sparrows in front of the great cathedral.
During our visit we saw abundant signs of life – that the cathedral at Notre Dame wasn’t just a museum but was an actively used place of worship and community. As we poked around in the alcoves we found that some were set aside for prayer while others were used to store boxes of printed materials used in worship or for tourists.
I have to say that today’s fire is shocking, stunning and sickening. At the same time I am confident that the life embodied in this great work of architecture is strong enough to regenerate – and in fact that is the nature of life itself. So I’m hopeful that over time we will see a new and equally glorious structure emerge.
