Nearly 18 months after the cathedral came under fire, the crypt of Notre Dame in Paris was reopened and an exhibition of the turbulent history of the cathedral was held, honoring the famous French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885) and his fellow architect Eugene Violet Le Duc (1814-1879) for their role in the revival of the cathedral in the 19th century .

Hugo wrote the novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", whose events were linked to the cathedral, and its construction in the novel suffers from the effects of time, and nearly two centuries ago, Hugo described in the novel a fire that broke out in the cathedral similar to what actually happened in it last year. On the other hand, the architect Le Duc played a major role in The cathedral was restored between 1845 and 1870, and is best known for its artistic doctrine of restoration within the environment available to historical buildings.

The exhibition was held in the cathedral's crypt, which contains remnants of fortifications and ancient thermal baths, and reopened after the devastating fire on April 15, 2019.

Although the basement was not damaged, the fire consumed the ceiling and interior parts of Notre Dame and toppled its famous tower, and the basement suffered severe repercussions from the toxic lead dust after the fire, and the entire site had to be cleared before allowing the return of visitors.

Notre Dame has been the pinnacle of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages.

Even with the decline of religion in France in recent decades, it remained the beating heart of the French Catholic Church, which opens daily for mass and is a national landmark of historical value that surpasses the famous Eiffel Tower.

The writer who protected the cathedral

Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" - published in 1831 - was instrumental in winning public support for the restoration of an ancient building that had been left in a state of neglect and decay.

"The exhibition begins with how the cathedral appeared at the time the novel is published," said Vincent Gill, curator of the Victor Hugo Museum in Paris.

"It was an eerily dangerous building and didn't look like a radiant and bright cathedral," he added, citing several of Hugo's drawings as evidence.

The gallery consists mostly of photographs, drawings, paintings, and film excerpts illustrating the world’s fascination with the cathedral, from the beginnings to today's animated feature films.

Notre Dame was badly damaged by vandalism in the early 19th century, and the careless city authorities were planning to demolish it when Hugo called for "war against destroyers" in a pamphlet published in 1825.

"Perhaps there is not a single city in France today that does not think of destroying, starting or completing some national monuments," he wrote.

After the publication of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the exhibition shows the French public swaying in the notion that Notre Dame is worth saving, and it lent decisive support for the work of the architect Le Duc in the cathedral between 1844 and 1864, which laid the foundations for the "state of the monument" it enjoys today.

Hugo wanted to preserve the historical monuments of France, and he was against the movement that called - at the time - to get rid of classic buildings and to choose more modern architecture.

Basement Gallery

The exhibition tells the story of the cathedral's return from its long desertion to the famous monument it is today, based on a collection of ancient photographs.

Accompanying the display are drawings, paintings, and film excerpts from Le Duc, who led the restoration of the cathedral, including the redesign and reconstruction of its medieval tower between 1844 and 1864.

The organizers believe that the exhibition is the first step towards returning to the normal life of the Basement Museum, which used to receive about 170,000 visitors annually before the fire.

"The project began shortly after the fire, and was driven by the desire to honor the cathedral," museum curator Anne de Mondinard told AFP.

Work on rebuilding Notre Dame after last year's fire has faced delays due to bad weather, concerns about lead contamination, and, most recently, the coronavirus pandemic.

Early last June, workers began the delicate task of removing tons of metal scaffolding that had melted together in the fire, and renovation work was underway when the fire broke out.

The fire led to the collapse of the main tower of the cathedral, which was built between the 12th and 14th centuries, and which is 93 meters high.

A turbulent history

The last time the cathedral suffered severe damage was during the French Revolution, when statues of saints were attacked by anti-clerics, and the building survived the uprising of the Commune in 1871 and was not destroyed during the Nazi occupation, and during the two world wars it remained largely intact.

At a time when the Catholic Church was mired in the heated debate about child abuse, the fire raged on the second Catholic cathedral after the Vatican, and this coincided with the most holy week for Western Christians.

For centuries, "Our Lady of Paris" was considered the jewel of Parisian architecture, and became both a tourist and religious destination for millions of tourists and worshipers who flock through its doors every year from all over the world.

Last year a fire broke out in the ancient cathedral, quickly reaching its roof and destroying the stained-glass and interior wood windows, before dropping the innovatively designed historic tower with flying buttresses and enormous and colorful pink windows and sculptural decorations that distinguish it from the ancient Roman style, and the Gothic architecture of the buildings allowed the buildings to be lighter in weight. And to rise to high limits.

The ancient cathedral has become an integral part of French culture and traditions since it began to work with the blessing of Pope Alexander III in 1163 to become the towering structure that dominates the skyline of Paris, and it took at least a century to complete it, and new touches were added continuously in the next 500 years To build it.

In addition to its religious effectiveness, Notre Dame witnessed many major events. In 1558, Mary Queen of Scots married her French husband, Francis II, within her walls.

In 1572, Henry IV of France also married her.

Back in 1548, at the height of the Reformation, riots by Protestants destroyed some of the statues they considered pagan.

During the events of the French Revolution it also suffered greatly, and many of its treasures were looted and 28 statues were beheaded, against the background of the belief that they were French kings and not biblical figures, but it is strange that she survived in all these events from any devastating fire.

By the time of Napoleon, Notre Dame was in danger of complete demolition, but the coronation ceremony of the Emperor was rejoiced in 1804 in a ceremony presided over by Pope Pius VII, which restored her respect.

The cathedral returned to the façade of France as the scene of Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and the writer's description in his romance, along with his observations of the damage it caused, helped in a new round of restoration of the building by King Louis-Philippe in the 19th century.

In addition to its long history, there is a symbolic and religious significance to its location, as it is located in the same place that witnessed the construction of the first Christian church in Paris on the ruins of an ancient Roman temple, and historians say that the first church on the site was built by King Sheldbert I in 528, and took the French Gothic character in construction Next to her.