France has announced an art competition for modern stained glass windows for the Notre-Dame Cathedral

Paris - France has announced a competition for the artistic design of modern stained glass windows for the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which burned down five years ago. Proposals for contemporary window fillings for six chapels can be submitted until May 24. The institution responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of the cathedral informed the AFP agency about this on Wednesday.

The French are not united in their views on replacing historical stained glass with modern motifs. President Emmanuel Macron supported the option of contemporary decorations during a visit to the renovated Gothic monument last December. Conversely, some experts and laypeople oppose the replacement, arguing that the fire did not damage the stained glass, and thus, it is neither necessary nor desirable to replace them. Almost 140,000 people have signed a petition against the intention to replace the 19th-century stained glass, authored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

The newly announced competition for the design of the stained glass takes the form of consultations, and the details have been published on the public procurement portal. The competition is supervised by the Ministry of Culture, whose head Rachida Dati appointed a twenty-member committee at the beginning of March to oversee the competition. It consists of experts on cultural heritage, artists, representatives of the Paris diocese, and members of the institution overseeing the reconstruction of the cathedral.

From the submitted proposals, the jury will select those whose authors will have the opportunity to propose detailed designs by autumn. In November, the committee will announce a pair of winners, made up of the author of the artistic design and the glass workshop that will process the stained glass and install it into the stone windows. A prototype is to be completed by December 8, when the grand reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral is scheduled. The final version of the stained glass will be installed in the windows by 2026 at the latest, according to AFP, citing the ministry.

Macron wants to imbue the building with "the mark of the 21st century" through the new stained glass. The original stained glass would be relocated and displayed in a newly created museum. According to Le Figaro, the idea comes from the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, and Macron has agreed with his proposal. However, critics of the plan argue that the glass decorations only make sense in their original location, as they are part of the architectural intent.

The world-famous architectural and religious monument in the heart of Paris was engulfed in flames on April 15, 2019. The fire spread through the roof and consumed large parts of the medieval building. The cause of the fire has not been fully clarified. It could have been caused by a fault in the electrical installation or a discarded cigarette. The monument, protected by UNESCO and famous for Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, attracted around 13 million visitors annually before the fire.