As the restoration work on the cathedral enters its final phase, the Musée du Louvre is dedicating an unprecedented exhibition to the treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris.
This treasury, which brings together sacred objects and vestments necessary for worship, relics and relics, handwritten books as well as other precious artifacts donated as acts of piety, will then return to the cathedral's neo-Gothic sacristy, built by Jean Baptiste Lassus to house Eugène Viollet-le-Duc from 1845 to 1850 and renovated for the reopening of the cathedral in 2024.
This exhibition offers a condensed history of the Treasury through more than 120 works and places it in the context of its ancient history: from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to its resurrection in the 19th century and its full flowering with Viollet-le-France. Duke during the Second Empire.
Expo le Tresor de Notre-Dame de Paris © Musee du Louvre
By returning to the origins of the treasure, the exhibition reveals its diversity and richness, particularly through the surviving manuscripts. Although relics and liturgical objects made of precious metals were completely destroyed during the French Revolution, the paintings, drawings and engravings on display give an insight into their splendor. For the coronation of Napoleon I in Notre-Dame, the Treasury was restored and enriched with prestigious relics, in particular those of the Crown of Thorns and the Wood of the Cross (not on display in the Musée du Louvre), which were brought from the former Treasury of Sainte-Chapelle and for which new relics were commissioned.
October 18, 2023 to January 29, 2024
