Died Suddenly, Remember Notre Dame? Links 1, Jan. 8, 2023

1. The evidence for the deliberate arson of Notre Dame in Paris mounts. Not that we needed more evidence, it was plenty obvious at the time as extraordinary measures are needed to set oak beams that old on fire. But the plans to remake it as a Postmodern, anti-Catholic and Islamic building tend to confirm. (We published a LOT on that at the time of the fire. Interesting coincidence that Barack and Michelle Obama happened to be on a boat on the river with a great view of the fire at the time, if memory serves, they were drinking Champagne.)

French Govt Wanted Modernist Notre Dame Rebuild, Macron’s Wife Proposed ‘Erect Phallus and Golden Balls’ Spire

“When I got back to the ministry, the office was in a state of stress: the Élysée Palace was dreaming of an ‘architectural gesture’ and was accusing me of just doing what I please,” she wrote, referring to the French president’s official residence.

Bachelot, who appears to have been insistent on as faithful a reconstruction of the Catholic cathedral as possible, said she did “not regret this insubordination” after Brigitte Macron, the French president’s controversial wife, showed her a proposed design “topped with a sort of erect phallus with its base surrounded with golden balls” at a meeting.

With much of the global architecture establishment actively hostile to building in traditional styles, decrying this as “pastiche” and insisting all new buildings must appear “contemporary”, there was a concerted effort to try and foist modernist aesthetics on Notre-Dame as the restoration of its damaged exterior and destroyed spire was discussed in the wake of the 2019 fire.

Architects proposed despoiling the cathedral with such features as a glass roof, a steel spire, or even a minaret — a tribute to Muslim Algerians in the country — in the wake of the blaze.

The allegedly conservative Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom published an article saying “it would be a travesty to rebuild a badly damaged Notre Dame as a facsimile of the original” instead of pursuing “bold and uncompromising modernity”, while a Harvard professor in America went so far as to say the destruction of a Christian building “so overburdened with meaning… feels like an act of liberation“.

The French government initially encouraged such fantasies, with Macron’s prime minister saying they would “ask the question of whether we should even recreate the spire as it was conceived [or] as is often the case in the evolution of heritage, we should endow Notre-Dame with a new spire” — but public pressure and, possibly, internal lobbying by Bachelot eventually saw them commit to a faithful restoration of the cathedral’s exterior.

The building’s interior may not be safe, however, with leaked plans for a Disneyland-style woke reimagining of the cathedral emphasising diversity and climate change causing controversy towards the end of 2021.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

6 Replies to “Died Suddenly, Remember Notre Dame? Links 1, Jan. 8, 2023”

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