Should the stained glass windows by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) in six chapels in the nave of Notre-Dame de Paris be replaced with contemporary ones? No was the unanimous answer from the Commission for Heritage and Architecture (CNPA) on July 11. To justify the decision, its members (elected representatives, association presidents, historians, etc.) referred to the Venice Charter, which sets out ethical rules for the restoration of historic monuments. Signed by France in 1965, this document prohibits the replacement of well-preserved ancient elements with modern ones.

What's more, not only did the famous grisailles – pieces of glass with geometric or interlaced patterns enhanced with color – not suffer from the fire of April 15, 2019, but they were cleaned and restored thanks to donations from the cathedral's benefactors. "We're certainly not going to remove and box up listed stained glass windows signed by Viollet-le-Duc, the great architect of Notre-Dame's 19^th-century renovation, who served as the reference for the current restoration," grumbled one commission member. He added: "But there's nothing to stop modern stained-glass windows being installed in the bays of the north or south towers, which have no stained glass."

With just four months to go before the cathedral's reopening on December 7 and 8, the commission's opinion – even if only advisory – has cast a chill over the Ministry of Culture and the Elysée Palace. Wasn't it the head of state who, during a visit to the Notre-Dame construction site on December 8, 2023, announced the organization of a competition to install contemporary stained glass windows in the bays of six chapels on the south side of the cathedral's nave? Wasn't it he who appointed Bernard Blistène, former director of the National Museum of Modern Art, as chairman of the jury, which has since become the artistic committee responsible for selecting the winning pair (artist and master glassworker) in November 2024? As the stained-glass windows will not be installed until 2026, a prototype will be presented at the reopening.

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The president's announcement immediately triggered a rallying call from heritage defenders. Published on Change.org on December 10, 2023, the petition "Conservons à Notre-Dame de Paris les vitraux de Viollet-le-Duc" ("Let's keep Viollet-le-Duc's stained glass windows at Notre-Dame de Paris") has so far attracted over 142,000 signatures. Submitted to the Elysée Palace in January by its author, Didier Rykner, editor-in-chief of La Tribune de l'Art, the petition was not enough to halt the process.

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