why does Notre-Dame de Paris touch us so much?

How did you go about it?

We have defined three axes. The first concerned “heritage sacredness”. This very material monument that is Notre-Dame is paradoxically a bearer of sacredness, not only because of its spiritual function, but also because it symbolizes what has survived time and the fire, which it witnessed of many events in history. As we could not study everything, my colleagues chose to observe the fate of the rubble from the fire: from the way in which they were sorted, preserved, the way the restorers and the media talk about them, we understand the value which they have. is given. In the case of Notre-Dame, this rubble quickly became “remnants”, endowed with scientific value, but could also be considered halfway between secular relics and souvenir objects.

Another axis consisted of comparing the reactions to Notre-Dame with the emotions aroused by other disasters of the same type, in particular by the fire of the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio, in September 2018 or the one which destroyed the church from Trémel, in Côtes-d’Armor, in 2016.

What did your own work involve?

I was interested in the public, which was numerous and difficult to understand at Notre-Dame. Even more so when the cathedral is closed! We therefore developed a questionnaire containing 500 questions, half of which were open to personal responses. Its online distribution allowed us to mainly gather the opinions of “expert users” of the cathedral, those who have a very strong connection with it.

What did you learn from their responses?

We are still processing this enormous mass of data. But for what I have already been able to study, what is surprising is the extent to which visits to the monument are integrated into everyone’s life. People say that they come back regularly. Also emerging from many responses is the idea that, despite the incessant crowd of visitors, everyone feels in a relationship of personal communion, one on one with Our Lady.

You also study the way in which the mediators speak about Notre-Dame…

Yes, because this public – which has often mobilized itself as a donor – shows a strong desire for mediation. This can be understood as the need to compensate for the inaccessibility of the building during the restoration period. Moreover, from models of the cathedral to novels and newspaper articles… the supply has exploded since the fire! It is interesting to observe that the stories from the construction site all explain how this monument was “saved” and describe those involved in the restoration as “heritage heroes” who “give everything” to their task: this way of dramatization contributes to maintaining collective emotion.