In France and around the globe, the extraordinary energy of cathedrals | EUROtoday
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DGod is useless? The Nietzschean antiphon has been infused in individuals’s minds for many years. We speak in regards to the decline of faith, nihilism gallops, the man-god triumphs. But, a postmodern paradox, crowds flock to the good Christian temples. Enough to wake the grasp historian Georges Duby from the useless, right here has returned “the time of the cathedrals”, which he as soon as celebrated in a masterful e book that has turn out to be a basic.
Contemporary artists take over the choirs, the place pilgrims, heritage fans, these interested by magnificence, or easy vacationers collect. Prelates, kings, presidents search to seize, within the setting of those previous everlasting stones, a bit of energy which on this world is slipping by their fingers.
The Point auscultated in an distinctive particular concern of 100 pages “The power of cathedrals”.
Traditionally, kings had been topped within the cathedral of Reims and buried within the Saint-Denis basilica, however Notre-Dame de Paris, restored by the architect Viollet-le-Duc, the surgeon of cathedrals, within the nineteenthe century, has turn out to be over the centuries the ship of the highly effective, whether or not they’re monarchical sovereigns, republican heads of state and authorities or revolutionary leaders. Walt Disney and Hollywood made him an American star.
“This Gothic building reads like a novel”, tells us on this particular concern the English novelist Ken Follett, the creator of Pillars of the earth. From Victor Hugo to Sylvain Tesson – who climbed it many occasions, as he tells us in a powerful ode to the burned cathedral – the Paris lighthouse has all the time fired the creativeness.
Behind the scenes of the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, 5 years after the fireplace
By marking world minds, past borders and murderous identities so effectively autopsied by the author Amin Maalouf, the fireplace at Notre-Dame in April 2019 underlined that, even in a dechristianized West, the place landmarks are disintegrating , a cathedral may stay a landmark. A religious watch, within the broad sense. The spire of Notre-Dame, because the spine of our society.
The reopening on December 7 and eight in mondiovision of this church of the nation, on the finish of a rare challenge which mobilized almost 850 million euros and a pair of,000 craftsmen over 5 years, is nothing wanting a miracle. The Point tells you behind the scenes.
“Never has the power of cathedrals been so powerful”
But everywhere in the world, cathedrals are being constructed, enlarged and embellished. In Yamoussoukro, in Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny wished to construct the most important church in Africa – his story is unbelievable, we inform it to you. Today, Vladimir Putin makes use of Orthodox cathedrals to rearm minds and serve his imperialist ambitions, because the specialist in Orthodoxy, Russia and Ukraine, Jean-François Colosimo, deciphers for us. “Never has the power of cathedrals been so powerful,” explains the historian specializing in non secular heritage, Mathieu Lours.
To enter – at no cost – into these homes of religion open to all, is to enter a world of mysteries, to nourish your creativeness, and to go from the seen to the invisible. As Chagall did by adorning the Metz cathedral with magnificent stained glass home windows, allow us to relate. Like Kamel Daoud, 2024 Goncourt Prize and columnist for Pointexpresses it in a brand new textual content after a disenchanted stroll within the Cathedral of the Sacré-Cœur in Oran. As Sébastien Lapaque, Renaudot Essais 2024 Prize and contributor to our newspaper, in a report additionally unpublished, brings it to our consideration in Brasilia, Brazil.
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We plunged into the intimacy of Chartres Cathedral at night time, tried to learn the mysteries which might be tangled in Saint-Étienne de Toulouse and Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, excavated the Treasures that are stuffed with ancestral, and infrequently little-known, wonders. With this distinctive particular concern, served by luxurious iconography and prestigious signatures, The Point invitations you to a terrific journey, near house.
The energy of cathedralsparticular version, 10.90 euros, 100 pages, accessible on newsstands and on our on-line retailer.
https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/en-france-et-dans-le-monde-l-extraordinaire-pouvoir-des-cathedrales-09-11-2024-2574863_3.php