Notre-Dame: A Wider World
Notre-Dame: A Wider World
On April 15, 2019, the world watched in grief as fire engulfed the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, which has stood in the center of Paris since construction began in 1163 on the site of a Roman temple. In 1991 UNESCO designated Notre Dame a World Heritage Site, a space not only sacred to Catholics, but also a cultural testament to eight centuries of history, art, and architecture that drew from a dynamic, multicultural, dynamic, multicultural, and religiously diverse medieval world.
Its reopening—scheduled for December 2024—has come to mean more than reconstruction: It is a spectacularly complex commitment to preserving a shared cultural treasure. In Houston, from October 2024 to June 2025, Archaeology Now presents this series of multimedia, multidisciplinary events by archaeologists, artisans, and scientists who are making the cathedral’s preservation possible and scholars who are opening broader understandings of its interconnected world.
In addition we continue to offer family and cemetery events that are part of our yearly programming. Look for fleur-de-lis icons that indicate events related to Notre-Dame..
Archaeology Now celebrates this series in grateful partnership with the Consulat Général de France à Houston, Villa Albertine, Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, and Alliance Française Houston.
We are grateful to the following sponsors for their generous support of this project.
Notre-Dame Cathedral: An Immersive Experience
Still image of digital rendering of Notre-Dame Cathedral, courtesy of Ars Electronica
To celebrate next month’s public reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral after its intense five-year restoration, an exhibition, mounted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, brings to life a virtual, three-dimensional model of the architectural icon.
Visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, are invited to step inside a virtual depiction of Paris as they experience the entry and interior of the cathedral, as well as the extraordinary effort to restore Notre-Dame after the devastating April 2019 fire.
In Paris, the iconic Gothic cathedral will reopen to the public on Saturday, December 7, 2024. The MFAH is celebrating this historic moment with an immersive experience in the Museum’s spacious Cullinan Hall.
The reconstruction of Notre-Dame has involved a team of nearly 2,000–both on site and in workshops across France–including conservators, carpenters, glassmakers, locksmiths, engineers, and scaffolding experts. The MFAH presentation showcases the legendary architectural features of the cathedral, including its famed stained-glass windows, as well as the role of new technologies in preserving and communicating humanity’s cultural heritage.
The MFAH experience is created by Ars Electronica in partnership with French start-ups Iconem and Histovery. The presentation employs point cloud data compiled by the late, renowned Belgian art historian and Vassar College professor Andrew Tallon, who created three-dimensional laser scans of the cathedral in 2010. This information proved instrumental in guiding the reconstruction of the cathedral and was supplemented with additional scans and material by Histovery.
The exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and supported by Villa Albertine, Alliance Francaise de Houston, Archaeology Now, Iconem, and Histovery. The videos are made possible thanks to data compiled by art historian Dr. Andrew Tallon, Yann Arthus Bertrand and TSVP. The resulting videos were created by Ars Electronica and their production team: Patrick Berger, Melinda File, Roland Haring, Raphael Schaumburg-Lippe.
Houston Gothic: An Architectural Tour
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A Medieval Musical Journey: Gregorian Chant
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African American Gothic
In this in-depth conversation, Pastor Lou and Mrs. Jacqueline B. McElroy, Pastor and First Lady of the historic Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest African American Baptist Church in Houston, will be joined by historian of Gothic architecture Dr. Lindsay Cook to discuss the history and architecture of Antioch Church, as well as several other works of African American art and architecture that are in dialogue with Gothic architecture, in general, or Notre-Dame of Paris, specifically.
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church was founded by formerly enslaved individuals in January 1866, only seven months after the end of slavery was announced in Galveston on June 19, 1865. Community leader Rev. John (Jack) Henry Yates served as the first Pastor of the church established in Freedman’s Town in Houston’s Fourth Ward. In fact, Mrs. Jacqueline McElroy is the great-great-granddaughter of Rev. Yates. Notably, the church is a UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples Project site and a recent recipient of a grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Presented by:
Dr. Lindsay Cook, Co-Director, Consortium for Early Modern & Medieval Studies, Penn State University
Pastor Lou McElroy and Mrs. Jackie McElroy, the Pastor and First Lady of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
Presented at:
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church | 500 Clay St, Houston, TX 77002
Cosponsored by:
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church
FREE ADMISSION
Digging in Hallowed Ground: Excavating Notre-Dame
Learn about excavations at Notre-Dame and how they revealed major, exciting new knowledge that will transform our understanding of Notre-Dame and its connections to a wider world.
Presented by:
Christophe Besnier, Director of Archaeology Excavations
Dr. Dorothée Chaoui-Derieux, Chief Heritage Curator, the Ministère de la Culture, France.
Presented at:
Jones Hall, The University of St. Thomas | 3910 Yoakum Houston TX 77006
Cosponsored by:
The University of St. Thomas
FREE ADMISSION
Denis Glicksmann, Inrap
Rebuilding Notre-Dame: “All Together”
David Bordes. Public establishment in charge conservation and restoration of Notre Dame
Medieval descriptions of the construction of Gothic cathedrals often begin with a destructive fire, miraculous survival, and renewed collective purpose for restoring what lost. In the process, the old becomes new and new ideas and possibilities emerge. Not only is a building reconstructed; it is transformed and so are we: new techniques, artistic forms, and ideas are developed through the organization of collaborative effort. The Notre-Dame restoration continues this story into our present moment as we have watched the spire of the cathedral rise once again and await the reopening on December 8, 2024. Alongside the restoration, interdisciplinary groups of researchers have made new discoveries about this famous Gothic building. This lecture will provide insight into the rebuilding process, the research groups of the Chantier scientifique, and the major discoveries that have been made thanks to collective effort and interdisciplinary, collaborative research.
Presented by:
Dr. Jennifer Feltman, member of Chantier Scientifique de Notre-Dame, Assoc. Prof., Medieval Art & Architecture, University of Alabama
Presented at:
Hudspeth Auditorium, Rice University | Entrance No 8, at the intersection of University Blvd and Stockton Drive
Cosponsored by:
Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Rice University
FREE ADMISSION
3D Imaging and the Restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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Notre-Dame Through Time
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