Notre Dame Is Burning

[millefleur 5,046]

52 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Some analysis of and reflections about several angles of this issue are found here:

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/04/17/leftists-and-the-notre-dame-fire/

 

Whether we agree or disagree with various thoughts is not as important as thinking about aspects that we might not have considered.  In addition, some links to other articles are within and below.

Thanks. Good article!

 

Some thoughts:

 

Quote

RUSH: This parallels a note that I got from a guy yesterday said, “Rush, all this talk about rebuilding, they never going to be able to rebuild it, not really. Because that cathedral was built with a searing love, a searing love for Jesus Christ and his mother, a searing love of Christianity, a 100-year project of searing, devoted love.”

He said, “I don’t care what they do to rebuild this, they’re never gonna be able to put the heart back in it that built it. They’re never gonna be able to restore the heart, the beating devotion and searing love that has been destroyed by the fire, if it has been.”

This is very true. Being able to get into the mind of the medieval builder is the challenge, not the money, not the technology. The medieval builder saw the world as God's creation, perfect in nature, this is why Gothic is filled with nature elements: leaves, flowers, many things look forest-like, mountain-like, river-like...also fantastic creatures, visions, basically a total departure in perspective/realism because they wanted to show the otherworldly, not the worldly. However, I disagree that this isn't possible to do again...it's just extremely difficult. Not impossible, but a monumental task of the heart. There was a huge medieval revival in the 19th Century...this is how we got Pugin's Palace of Westminster, by the way.

 

Quote

I fear he’s right. It’s very hard in our society to ever build a cathedral again, much less to repair them, because we don’t believe in what they represent. Some of us do, but the country is trending away from that. The country is trending away from believing in what these cathedrals represent.

Also very true. Much of this is exactly what is discussed in Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame"...the cathedral was in extreme disrepair and nearly condemned to demolition in the 19th Century, as France basically didn't care about churches at that time either, then Hugo wrote the book and literally changed the entire global perspective on medieval buildings, initiating a global medieval revival - that's power! I slightly disagree with Rush about the Renaissance, a lot of it was done for the money, sort of mixture of money and piety, that's why Renaissance art resonates with us modern folk today, it was a celebration of individuals/humanism, it wasn't quite the complete departure into the heavens that was the Gothic. Gothic is better because it's selfless and universal, just my opinion of course. 

 

In regards to the black churches in Louisiana - nothing is stopping them from building a Notre Dame. The USA has way more money than medieval France ever did and tons of resources...if you want to build a Notre Dame, build it. It's always a question of motivations.

 

Quote

 

RUSH: It turns out the Catholic Church does not own Notre Dame. It seems like the French government does, best I’ve been able to tell here, and that the state, the French government lends the building to the Catholic Church.

So, folks, don’t be surprised with this Macron guy if in fact Notre Dame does get rebuilt under a secular identity and for a secular purpose. That’s who this French leader is, after all. We’ll have to keep a sharp eye on it. But don’t be shocked.

 

I'm extremely worried about this, because France has this concept called Laïcité - secularism, but for the French it's so much more than secularism. It's a loud, proud, in-your-face version of secularism that is very practical in matters of state, in matters of art and design...ehhh, that's iffy, especially when it comes to Gothic/medieval art for above reasons discussed. There's been a debate in art history/restoration circles for ages over how to restore old buildings - do we just let it crumble and build anew? Do we restore in the spirit of the old but embellish with our imagination? Do we just copy exactly and rebuilt it? OR...the WORST option in my opinion: Do we leave some of the old stuff but add on a "modern" twist? This option almost always results in a horrid abomination hybrid that nobody likes, but the state usually loves it because it "sounds good" on paper - "Old meets new! Bridging the past and present!" Blah blah...well Macron is a total goon and I can totally see him opting for this because like I said, it sounds good when politicians talk about it, but in reality it always fails. I'm hoping the people of Paris and France will stand up for the traditional approach and use this as a time to go back to their roots and really learn from the cathedral itself....not use it as an blank slate for some politically-correct ugly secular "art" experiment.

Edited April 18, 2019 by millefleur

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

That sucks. We just did a home and away with them. They can play other places depending on how bad the stadium got burnt 

[Neonred 3,564]

9 hours ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

That sucks. We just did a home and away with them. They can play other places depending on how bad the stadium got burnt 

LOL.  The other day when the fire had started, and I had not yet heard about it, a patient came in to  the office and said "did you hear about Notre Dame?"  My reply was "oh no, not another football scandal!

[Dashinka 24,512]

10 hours ago, Neonred said:

LOL.  The other day when the fire had started, and I had not yet heard about it, a patient came in to  the office and said "did you hear about Notre Dame?"  My reply was "oh no, not another football scandal!

My first thought was that touchdown Jesus was going to be no more.  Then I found out it was in Paris.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

[theresaL 408]

Concerns about the direction of the rebuilding of ND are already on French news and talk shows. They are now discussing whether or not the rebuilding should be an exact  restoration of the original or modernized. They showed a few design possibilities for the new spire superimposed over an updated restored roof. A few weren't too bad but others looked about as attractive as a rhino horn on a cat.

 

I'm concerned it will end up looking like the Pompidou. Or worse yet like that hideous cathedral in Barcelona.

Edited April 20, 2019 by theresaL

[TBoneTX 45,305]

On 4/18/2019 at 2:10 AM, millefleur said:

Being able to get into the mind of the medieval builder is the challenge, not the money, not the technology. The medieval builder saw the world as God's creation, perfect in nature, this is why Gothic is filled with nature elements [...]

Spoken like a genuine art historian, MF ma'am...