{"id":1090626,"date":"2021-12-06T16:14:22","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T21:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1090626"},"modified":"2021-12-06T16:14:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T21:14:28","slug":"france-must-reject-woke-plans-for-notre-dames-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/france-must-reject-woke-plans-for-notre-dames-restoration\/","title":{"rendered":"France Must Reject Woke Plans For Notre Dame\u2019s Restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrance-must-reject-woke-plans-for-notre-dames-restoration%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1090626&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>When more than 340,000 people banded together to donate nearly a billion dollars to restore one of the world\u2019s most magnificent Gothic cathedrals, chances are, they weren\u2019t imagining their money going to a chapel with an \u201cenvironmental emphasis.\u201d Or modern sound and lighting effects intended to make the space more \u201caccessible\u201d and \u201ccomfortable\u201d for non-Christian visitors.<\/p>\n<p>But that is exactly what Father Gilles Drouin, appointed to oversee Notre Dame\u2019s restoration by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetablet.co.uk\/news\/14761\/pope-accepts-resignation-of-paris-archbishop-\">scandal-plagued<\/a> Archbishop Michel Aupetit, has planned for the 850-year old structure.<\/p>\n<p>When the iconic church accidentally caught fire in April 2019, the transfixed world seemed to be mourning something bigger than the destruction of an historic artifact. The sense of loss was so acute, it suggested a collective, unspoken awareness that we were watching one of the last citadels of Western civilization burn. Now that the plans for Notre Dame\u2019s renovation have been revealed, it seems we may have been right.<\/p>\n<p>Drouin first unveiled his plans for the new interior during an online conference in May. The video soon made its way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uB_Dm9pN4FQ\">YouTube<\/a> where it sat, unnoticed, until the British newspaper&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2021\/11\/26\/notre-dame-risks-becoming-woke-disneyland-controversial-renovation\/\">The Daily Telegraph<\/a>&nbsp;published a report on the presentation last week. What they saw prompted them to describe it as a \u201cwoke theme park.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParis\u2019 fire-ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral risks resembling a \u2018politically correct Disneyland\u2019 under controversial plans for its renovation,\u201d the report began. The story then went into horrific detail:<\/p>\n<p><em>Under the proposed changes, confessional boxes, altars and classical sculptures will be replaced with modern art murals, and new sound and light effects to create \u201cemotional spaces\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There will be themed chapels on a \u201cdiscovery trail\u201d, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia, while quotes from the Bible will be projected onto chapel walls in various languages, including Mandarin.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The final chapel on the trail will have a strong environmental emphasis.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>World-renowned French architect Maurice Culot told the Telegraph, \u201cIt\u2019s as if Disney were entering Notre-Dame.\u201d He added, \u201cWhat they are proposing to do to Notre-Dame would never be done to Westminster Abbey or Saint Peter\u2019s in Rome. It\u2019s a kind of theme park and very childish and trivial given the grandeur of the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even some of those close to the renovation aren\u2019t happy about the changes. One unnamed source told the Telegraph the Catholic Church is risking turning the global beacon of Christianity into an \u201cexperimental showroom\u201d that would \u201cmutilate\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>As Culot pointedly asked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theartnewspaper.com\/2021\/12\/01\/interior-redesign-notre-dame-cathedral\">The Art Newspaper<\/a> in a separate interview, \u201cHow could a priest choose, on his own, the interior decoration of a cathedral that belongs to the universal heritage of humanity and is being rebuilt with donations coming from all over the world?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And yet, even Culot is missing the depth of the travesty at work here. More than simply undermining its historic significance, the plans for Notre Dame\u2019s interior undermine its religious significance.<\/p>\n<p>In 1844 architect and medieval-specialist Eug\u00e8ne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc undertook the job of painstakingly replacing the crumbling original 13th century spire and rehabbing the cathedral from the brutal treatment it received from secularist mobs during the French Revolution. During their time in power, they claimed Our Lady of Paris for their \u201cCult of Reason,\u201d tearing down statues and melting down artifacts (sound familiar?) Most of Viollet-le-Duc\u2019s entire professional life was dedicated to restoring Notre Dame\u2019s uniquely Christian beauty.<\/p>\n<p>Edifices like the great cathedrals of the Western world were designed to transcend man\u2019s internal, oppressive awareness of himself and cause him to look heavenward \u2014 to feel, paradoxically, both his own smallness and gratitude that a God so great as to inspire such worship seeks communion with him.<\/p>\n<p>These wretched 21st century plans for the cathedral accomplish the opposite. They center man \u2014 his comfort, his emotion, his temporal preoccupations \u2014 at the center of the experience. It is a form of self-idolatry.<\/p>\n<p>Do the great cathedrals not immediately open their mysteries to every tourist? That\u2019s as it should be \u2014 all the better to inspire them to seek what they see other visitors around them have found.<\/p>\n<p>Notre Dame is an edifice that has survived not only the ravages of time and fire but of secularism and revolution, and it has already overcome one close brush with philistinism since the 2019 inferno.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the destruction, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea that, since the spire and roof had burned anyway, why not take the opportunity to try something different? Calling for \u201can inventive reconstruction,\u201d he suggested perhaps the 315-foot spire should be traded for a \u201ccontemporary architectural gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His prime minister Edouard Philippe recommended an international architecture competition and put out a call for proposals. In response, modern firms unleashed a torrent of gaudy and appalling designs, from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Bwm6-kHFHlD\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">space-age disc-and-arch staircase<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BwmswLKhZyt\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">monstrous carbon-fiber flames<\/a> permanently reminding everyone of the tragic sight of the structure on fire.<\/p>\n<p>The French public rightly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lefigaro.fr\/culture\/restauration-de-notre-dame-les-francais-opposes-a-une-loi-d-exception-20190509\">recoiled<\/a> in horror. Facing overwhelmingly negative polls, Macron slunk away from the idea <em>toute<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When more than 340,000 people banded together to donate nearly a billion dollars to restore one of the world\u2019s most magnificent Gothic cathedrals, chances are, they weren\u2019t imagining their money going to a chapel with an \u201cenvironmental emphasis.\u201d Or modern sound and lighting effects intended to make the space more \u201caccessible\u201d and \u201ccomfortable\u201d for non-Christian visitors.But that is exactly what Father Gilles Drouin, appointed to oversee Notre Dame\u2019s restoration by scandal-plagued Archbishop Michel Aupetit, has planned for the 850-year old structure.When the iconic church accidentally caught fire in April 2019, the transfixed world seemed to be mourning something bigger than the destruction of an historic artifact. The sense of loss was so acute, it suggested a collective, unspoken awareness that we were watching one of the last citadels of Western civilization burn. Now that the plans for Notre Dame\u2019s renovation have been revealed, it seems we may have been right.Drouin first unveiled his plans for the new interior during an online conference in May. The video soon made its way to YouTube where it sat, unnoticed, until the British newspaper\u00a0The Daily Telegraph\u00a0published a report on the presentation last week. What they saw prompted them to describe it as a \u201cwoke theme park.\u201d\u201cParis\u2019 fire-ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral risks resembling a \u2018politically correct Disneyland\u2019 under controversial plans for its renovation,\u201d the report began. The story then went into horrific detail:Under the proposed changes, confessional boxes, altars and classical sculptures will be replaced with modern art murals, and new sound and light effects to create \u201cemotional spaces\u201d.There will be themed chapels on a \u201cdiscovery trail\u201d, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia, while quotes from the Bible will be projected onto chapel walls in various languages, including Mandarin.The final chapel on the trail will have a strong environmental emphasis.World-renowned French architect Maurice Culot told the Telegraph, \u201cIt\u2019s as if Disney were entering Notre-Dame.\u201d He added, \u201cWhat they are proposing to do to Notre-Dame would never be done to Westminster Abbey or Saint Peter\u2019s in Rome. It\u2019s a kind of theme park and very childish and trivial given the grandeur of the place.\u201dEven some of those close to the renovation aren\u2019t happy about the changes. One unnamed source told the Telegraph the Catholic Church is risking turning the global beacon of Christianity into an \u201cexperimental showroom\u201d that would \u201cmutilate\u201d it.As Culot pointedly asked The Art Newspaper in a separate interview, \u201cHow could a priest choose, on his own, the interior decoration of a cathedral that belongs to the universal heritage of humanity and is being rebuilt with donations coming from all over the world?\u201dAnd yet, even Culot is missing the depth of the travesty at work here. More than simply undermining its historic significance, the plans for Notre Dame\u2019s interior undermine its religious significance.In 1844 architect and medieval-specialist Eug\u00e8ne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc undertook the job of painstakingly replacing the crumbling original 13th century spire and rehabbing the cathedral from the brutal treatment it received from secularist mobs during the French Revolution. During their time in power, they claimed Our Lady of Paris for their \u201cCult of Reason,\u201d tearing down statues and melting down artifacts (sound familiar?) Most of Viollet-le-Duc\u2019s entire professional life was dedicated to restoring Notre Dame\u2019s uniquely Christian beauty.Edifices like the great cathedrals of the Western world were designed to transcend man\u2019s internal, oppressive awareness of himself and cause him to look heavenward \u2014 to feel, paradoxically, both his own smallness and gratitude that a God so great as to inspire such worship seeks communion with him.These wretched 21st century plans for the cathedral accomplish the opposite. They center man \u2014 his comfort, his emotion, his temporal preoccupations \u2014 at the center of the experience. It is a form of self-idolatry.Do the great cathedrals not immediately open their mysteries to every tourist? That\u2019s as it should be \u2014 all the better to inspire them to seek what they see other visitors around them have found.Notre Dame is an edifice that has survived not only the ravages of time and fire but of secularism and revolution, and it has already overcome one close brush with philistinism since the 2019 inferno.In the wake of the destruction, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea that, since the spire and roof had burned anyway, why not take the opportunity to try something different? Calling for \u201can inventive reconstruction,\u201d he suggested perhaps the 315-foot spire should be traded for a \u201ccontemporary architectural gesture.\u201dHis prime minister Edouard Philippe recommended an international architecture competition and put out a call for proposals. In response, modern firms unleashed a torrent of gaudy and appalling designs, from a space-age disc-and-arch staircase to monstrous carbon-fiber flames permanently reminding everyone of the tragic sight of the structure on fire.The French public rightly recoiled in horror. Facing overwhelmingly negative polls, Macron slunk away from the idea toute suite, assuring his citizens mere weeks later that he had \u201cbecome convinced\u201d that the Gothic masterpiece should be restored in such a way that was \u201cas true as possible\u201d to its \u201ccomplete, coherent and last known state.\u201dIronically, a vestige of the French Revolution that put historic churches under state ownership may be Notre Dame\u2019s saving grace from clergy more interested in indulging political fashions than in honoring the Lord of Hosts.On December 9, Father Douin and his team must present their proposal to France\u2019s National Heritage and Architecture Commission for approval. What the nation\u2019s leaders will not do for the sake of religion, they may do for the sake of national pride and popularity. The people who gave from their hearts to save the great cathedral and the French people who demanded their leaders respect the past must raise their voices again.Barbarians have been at Notre Dame\u2019s gate before. It\u2019s our turn to force them back.The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1090626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1090626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1090626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1090626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1090626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}