David Quinn
Some readers might remember the widely-acclaimed BBC documentary series from 1969 called ‘Civilisation’ presented by the ultra-urbane, quintessential Englishman, the art critic, Kenneth Clark.
In the 13-part series (which can be found on YouTube), Clark gives a personal view of Western civilisation and how it developed from the ‘Dark Ages’ down to his own day, when the slogan ‘Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western civ has got to go’ rang out on university campuses. Clark was a defender of the achievements of Western civilisation, which was a deeply unfashionable to do in certain quarters, even then.
In the first episode of the series, Clark is in Paris, on the banks of the Seine. He asks, ‘What is civilisation?’ and responds, ‘I don’t know. I can’t define it in abstract terms yet, but I think I can recognise it when I see it, and I’m looking at it now’. Behind him, stands Notre Dame cathedral in all its glory, one of the greatest symbols of Western culture, art, civilisation and, of course, Christianity.
Ingrained
It is because Notre Dame cathedral is all these things and is so ingrained in the Western and world imagination, that the fire which engulfed and almost destroyed it in 2019 was so shocking and had such a visceral effect on so many of us. If it had been lost, it would almost have been like losing part of ourselves. If he was filming ‘Civilisation’ today, what would Kenneth Clark have stood in front of as the symbol of Western civilisation? There would have been other choices, other great cathedrals, but few have the same combination of age, beauty, grandeur and fame as Notre Dame de Paris, not even St Peter’s basilica in Rome, which is several centuries younger.
The fact that it was almost lost, and was saved only by the sheer heroism and skill of hundreds of fire-fighters, is what made its reopening last weekend such a great and memorable occasion.
Even as smoke was still rising from the semi-ruins of the cathedral, donations began to pour in from all over the world. In total, 340,000 people made a donation from very small to extremely large. One French billionaire made a personal donation of €100 million.
In some ways it is hard to believe we are looking at the same building as the one that was engulfed by fire five years ago. The exterior is fully restored, intact and recognisable, but the tens of millions of people, tourists and worshippers alike, who have been in the cathedral down the centuries will have been amazed at how different the interior is. Gone from the walls, the statues and the other works of art is the effect of centuries of smoke from the church candles. The church now looks as though it was built yesterday and the effect is much brighter, far less gloomy. It looks now more like how it would have appeared to the earlier Mass-goers who have worshipped there.
As a writer in the Guardian put it: “the effect is as close to time-travel as it comes, as if the medieval guilds had just left the building.”
And what we can marvel at anew is the immense skills of the craftsmen who began building Notre Dame cathedral almost 1,000 years ago without any of the advantages of modern technology.
The Middle Ages are seen today in an almost completely negative light, as a time of ignorance, barbarism and superstition in which the Church was dominant and holding back society. Indeed, they are seen in much the same way Irish people have been trained to see our own history until, at this point, 1990 or so now that our ‘dark age’ has been extended into the 1980s.
But the Middle Ages were also a time of astonishing achievement, when the foundations of the modern age were very much being laid down. During the Middle Ages, the first true universities were founded, a growing number of hospitals began to be built, the monasteries were putting ever more land to productive use, banking was being founded in countries like Italy and France, modern versions of trade were being developed, especially by the Italians. Improved agricultural techniques were coming into use, and as we can see from Notre Dame cathedral, new forms of engineering, architecture, construction and art were being invented.
Foundations
In addition, the Church was developing its canon law apace which helped to lay the foundations of modern law and indeed, modern bureaucratic techniques. Guilds were coming into being, which helped to develop representative forms of Government. The idea of ‘Europe’ was increasingly taking hold, and the clan systems were continuing to break down in growing parts of Europe which also allowed new, representative forms of Government to develop over time.
But Notre Dame cathedral has been restored in a France and on a continent which are far more secular and where levels of church attendance have collapsed compared with even the recent past. Is the restoration of the cathedral, in fact, a last gasp of Christianity in Europe and of the religion that helped to build Europe and that church in the first place?
The re-opening of Notre Dame has taken place in a country that is roiled by political turmoil and a huge struggle over its identity. France has become far more multi-cultural since the Second World War, and especially more Muslim. The country has an estimated 5 million Muslims living within it. Many Muslims are well integrated, but many are not, and some have been recruited to radical Islamist organisations like ISIS. In another 50 years, how much more Muslim will France become? This is one of the big questions absorbing the country. And if it has not happened already, there might be more practising Muslims than practising Catholics in France in due course.
Challenge
The changing nature of France is not only a challenge to the Catholic Church, it is also a challenge to the French idea of secularism, or ‘laïcité’.
And as Europe becomes less Christian, but also possibly less secular in some respects, how will Europe define itself? Not so long ago you could say that Europe was Christian, even if it often practiced that religion very badly.
But what is it now? Will we have any common identity at all if we are not Christian? It is no good suggesting ‘multi-culturalism’ as the long-term answer because multi-culturalism is having decidedly mixed effects, some good, some bad.
The restoration of Notre Dame de Paris is a reminder of what we were, in the best sense, and it is also a reminder of possibilities. Above all, it is reminder of the great need for the Church to renew itself, to become as gleaming and beautiful as Paris’s great cathedral. A renewed, rejuvenated Church will attract worshippers again. Let the restoration of Notre Dame be a symbol of that possibility.