France debates if Notre Dame should get new glass windows amid restoration

[elijahfan 27,484]

They chose to rebuild the cathedral exactly as it was, so I don’t understand why the treatment of the windows is now up for debate, especially if they weren’t damaged by the fire. If they wanted to update something and acknowledge the tragedy, they should’ve done this with an element that was destroyed. Total nonsense.

[MelbHawker 6,583]

I don’t know why anyone would want the original windows replaced. I’ve seen them in person & they are impossibly beautiful to look at. They’ve been that way since the cathedrals origin, I’m totally against erasing something so significant to its history / design. 

[Ayesha Erotica 1,924]

I still remember the headline from a French newspaper after Notre Dame burned:

 

NOTRE D(R)AME

(in English: Notre Dame, Our drama)

That was like the most memorable newspaper headline that I ever read & remembered.  Creative, dramatic, short, playful with words, catchy. Just two words and so accurate.

 

I have visited Notre-Dame years ago years before it burned and I must say that ND really is special, it is not just the big beautifully built church, it is also the whole setting around. Notre Dame is located on a tiny island on the Seine river in Paris and this river basically divides Paris into two halves and the tiny island is situated in the middle of the centre, in between the two halves.

Since Parisians oculdn't decide whether the northern or southern half is more central, they official decided to declare the entrance area in front of Notre Dame on the tiny island to be the most central place in all of France, known as Paris Point Zéro which is a sight in itself:

And the view on the tiny island is so beautiful. One sees Notre Dame and the river and one really feels an island feeling because basically ND occupies a quarter of the island. But the view form outside the island onto the island is also beautiful. One sees boats in front on ND and no large buildings are blocking the view and because of the river, the view gets even better.  There is even a small garden behind ND to relax and enjoy the river scene.

[DopeEnigma 1,782]

Literally leave the originals alone, they’re beautiful and important culturally, what a ridiculous idea to even consider changing them. Maybe spend that money on something to help people instead 

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

On 1/10/2024 at 11:14 PM, FfFfFfFF said:

The pixelated window at Cologne Cathedral (Germany) is an example of a contemporary stained-glass design ->>

Another example of contemporary glass-window design is 'Queen's Window' at Westminster Abby

[bionic 50,111]

1 hour ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Another example of contemporary glass-window design is 'Queen's Window' at Westminster Abby

Truly hideous and amateur-looking.

[NymphetaGold 321]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:14 PM, FfFfFfFF said:

The pixelated window at Cologne Cathedral (Germany) is an example of a contemporary stained-glass design ->>

I feel morally offended and I'm not even christian

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

On 1/15/2024 at 4:40 PM, NymphetaGold said:

I feel morally offended and I'm not even christian

On 1/15/2024 at 4:33 PM, bionic said:

Truly hideous and amateur-looking.

I believe this is the issue. While art and architecture styles were always fluid and ever-evolving in the past, and many buildings combined elements from many styles over the years, usually that would not have been too disruptive because they still adhered to similar principles of beauty

- see baroque window added to Spanish gothic chatedral in Toledo, which replace the original gothic window from the 13th century 

- or a baroque makeover of a dome of Byzantine church from Ravenna, Italy

Now post-modern art is simply too dissimilar to the previous art styles, so by default contemporary design would likely look out of place and awkward (because  post-modern art functons on other principles and doesn't seek to be specular in a traditional sense, which is the opposite of the traditional art in Notre Dome or Westeminster Abby).

Nowadays art attempts to disrupt, rebel and create a visceral reaction to the viewer - imagine hanging Marina Abramovic from the rooftop of Notre Dome - this is the last step of Western art before it finally runs its course.  

Which is kinda a good arc, as after centuries of beautiful art in the 21th century stepping into a beautiful architectural space no longer shocks your senses, because people got used to beauty. So society as a whole might have started to seek the shock in other places. An ugly window in a gothic church is by deault a post-modernist ordeal, because the attempt was to be to an extend unconventional and repulsive from the get-go.

This went to deep, but here we go.