An exhibition reveals its hidden treasures
Suddenly, a face arises from the subsoil, peaceful, eyes closed. This April 5, 2022, Stéphane Compoint, who photographs the site of Notre-Dame de Paris for The pilgrim is present during this discovery at the crossroads of the transept. “We see this sleeping Christ,” he recalls. And I then hear an experienced archaeologist say: “It is the greatest emotion of my entire career. ”For me, it will be the strongest of these almost five years of reports in the cathedral. »»
This face of Christ, masterpiece of French sculpture at the beginning of the 14th century, is today exhibited at the Musée de Cluny, in Paris, with forty other beautiful fragments of the roodle of Notre-Dame. About 40 % of this wall of carved stones which closed the choir of the building until its destruction in 1699 were thus uncovered, estimates Christophe Besnier, of the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research.
The exhibition “To make the stones” speak resolutely towards the contributions of contemporary science, which makes it possible to renew the gaze on these vestiges and the entire building. “Thanks to the analyzes of limestones, the study of the traces of polychromy of the statues, to a restoration campaign, we have” shaken “this material and brings out new knowledge”, summarizes with enthusiasm Damien Berné, commissioner of the ‘Exhibition, which talks about these sculptures as many “puzzles” during reconstruction.
Buckle of signs
Thus he invites us to a real “scientific police investigation” in the footsteps of the various teams of researchers. With a lot of pedagogy, panels drawn from an image dating from 1729 give visitors the opportunity to re-situate the-column statues of the Sainte-Anne portal (on the left of the central portal of the facade).
Thanks to a scientific imaging campaign of the Center for Research and Restoration of Museums in France, “ghost inscriptions” – invisible to the naked eye – are reappeared and have made it possible to identify some of the characters represented. For its part, the research laboratory for historic monuments identified vestiges of painting allowing to get an idea of the medieval pace of these formerly colorful statues.
Presented in the center of Frigidarium* it was the finds of the roodle that attracts the most, because unlike the vestiges found in the 19th century by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, these elements have kept their colors! This shirtless held by a hand which seems to belong to a descent of the cross, this serene face of Christ “asleep” evoking his jam … The roodle presented the scenes of passion, while other episodes of the life of Jesus were told about the carved wooden fence that always belts the choir.
A key manuscript of mystery
The rediscovery of an illuminated manuscript of 1340, whose sheets had been dispersed worldwide, will certainly confirm this. “We realized that the miniatures represented the different scenes of the roodle and the fence with their legend,” says Damien Berné. This will help us to reconstruct the disappeared parts and enlighten the role of mysterious stone bases that we have been keeping since Viollet-le-Duc: they carry the same engraved legend and have to support and explain sculpted scenes. »»
The identification game of the characters and the scenes continues behind the scenes of the exhibition since an American specialist has just found in a university collection another head which seems to be perfectly adjusted to one of the busts exposed!
* Cold piece of the Roman thermal baths, which remains in the museum.
