Title in English: Myths about Notre-Dame. Gothic, Imperialism, and Nation

April 2019. A cathedral is burning in Paris! The nation mourns, politicians immediately “start rebuilding”. But what cathedral is actually going to come back to life? The book presents Notre-Dame dynamically, in constant change. From the 12th century to its grand reopening in 2024, the cathedral has been transformed according to the ideological needs of monarchy, revolution, empire and republic. The authors situate the Gothic in Mediterranean and Eurasian relations and challenge the myth of French exceptionalism. They vividly depict the cathedral as a victim of revolutionary iconoclasm, a witness to Napoleon’s self-crowning, an object of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s romanticizing reconstruction, and of Macron’s new mythologization. A wondrous palimpsest of power, fantasy and memory, a site of the clash of politics, heritage and cultural identity.