Notre-Dame : the soul of France / Agnès Poirier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Poirier, Agnès Catherine, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Notre-Dame de Paris (Cathedral)--History.

Notre-Dame de Paris (Cathedral).

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 219 pages, 8 unnumbered pages : illustrations (some color), map ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Oneworld Publications, 2020.

Summary:

The profound emotion felt around the world upon seeing images of Notre-Dame in flames opens up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? Why does Notre-Dame so clearly crystallise what our civilisation is about? What makes 'Our Lady of Paris' the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement? What is it that speaks so directly to us today? In answer, Agnès Poirier turns to the defining moments in Notre-Dame's history. Beginning with the laying of the corner stone in 1163, she recounts the conversion of Henri IV to Catholicism, the coronation of Napoleon, Victor Hugo's nineteenth-century campaign to preserve the cathedral, Baron Haussmann's clearing of the streets in front of it, the Liberation in 1944, the 1950s film of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, and the state funeral of Charles de Gaulle, before returning to the present. The conflict over Notre-Dame's reconstruction promises to be fierce. Nothing short of a cultural war is already brewing between the wise and the daring, the sincere and the opportunist, historians and militants, the devout and secularists. It is here that Poirier reveals the deep malaise - gilet jaunes and all - at the heart of the France.

The profound emotion felt around the world upon seeing images of Notre-Dame in flames opens up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? Why does Notre-Dame so clearly crystallise what our civilisation is about? What makes 'Our Lady of Paris' the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement? What is it that speaks so directly to us today? In answer, Agn�es Poirier turns to the defining moments in Notre-Dame's history. Beginning with the laying of the corner stone in 1163, she recounts the conversion of Henri IV to Catholicism, the coronation of Napoleon, Victor Hugo's nineteenth-century campaign to preserve the cathedral, Baron Haussmann's clearing of the streets in front of it, the Liberation in 1944, the 1950s film of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, and the state funeral of Charles de Gaulle, before returning to the present. The conflict over Notre-Dame's reconstruction promises to be fierce. Nothing short of a cultural war is already brewing between the wise and the daring, the sincere and the opportunist, historians and militants, the devout and secularists. It is here that Poirier reveals the deep malaise - gilet jaunes and all - at the heart of the France.

Contents:

1. 15 April 2019

The night of the Fire. 'That night, I died'

2. 1163

The first stone. 'If this monument is one day finished, no other will ever compare'

3. 1594 and 1638

The Bourbans. 'Paris is well worth a Mass!'

4. 1789

Reason, supreme being and wine. 'The ceremony should have be religious, but is was almost all military'

5. 1804

The coronation of Napoleon. 'Vivat imperator in aeternam!'

6. 1831

How Victor Hugo's novel saved Notre-Dame. 'This will save that'

7. 1844

Viollet-le-Duc. 'I wish my life would end right here in the rose window's light'

8. 1865

Haussmann 'Unclutters' the Îles de la Cité'. 'Like an elephant in the middle of a desert'

9. 1944

De Gaulle at the liberation. 'The magnificent rises. Has it ever been more ardently sung? However, shooting continues inside'

10. 2013

The Bells of Notre Dame. 'This sonorous isle'

11. 2019

The battle for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame. 'We will rebuild her even more beautiful than before'.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Ebook version :

ISBN:

9781786077998

178607799X

OCLC:

1119475089

Publisher Number:

99985329639