Sacred Architecture Journal

12/22/2024

Macron and the Archbishop wanted something modern at Notre Dame, and now it looks like they are getting their way. The historians and scholars petitioned to prevent it. However, the plan is to remove the windows by Viollet le Duc (who designed the spire) and replace them with something more "up to date."

French artist Claire Tabouret poses following a press conference after winning with The Atelier Simon-Marq, the selection to create new stained-glass windows in six chapels of the south aisle of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris on Dec....

12/22/2024

Both schizophrenics and twentieth-century artists frequently exhibited defiance of authority and convention; an extreme, often dizzying relativism, which can culminate in paralysis; nihilism and all-embracing irony; a tantalizing, uncanny, but always frustrating sense of revelation; obliteration of standard forms of time and narrative; pervasive dehumanization; and disappearance of external reality in favor of the omnipotent ego or, alternatively, dissolution of all sense of selfhood.

Once, the story goes, man stood at the center of the universe. He looked in the mirror and saw a . . . .

12/10/2024

Notre Dame Cathedral is a tremendous success and a sign of things to come

Read Mater Ecclesia by Duncan G. Stroik

12/08/2024

12/08/2024

https://x.com/francetv/status/1865467507634487544?s=46

12/08/2024

Who needs Dumbed down mascots

We have come a long way from Michelangelo’s extraordinary frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling to “Luce.”

12/07/2024

Watch the reopening ceremony at Notre-Dame:

The iconic Notre Dame cathedral opens its doors again on December 7 after a devastating fire ravaged the Paris landmark in 2019.

12/07/2024

Notre-Dame's re-opening and rededication is this weekend! Deo gratias!!

12/06/2024

Duncan Stroik speaking on the renovation of the newly reopened Notre Dame Cathedral
Hosted by Chicago's Morning Answer with Dan Proft & Amy Jacobson

12/03/2024

Amazing work by architect Philippe Villeneuve and the team of craftsmen and artists who restored Notre-Dame...and a lot of credit to President Macron, who set the five year timeline for restoration on the night of the fire in April 2019. France has demonstrated its love and commitment to Our Lady, may she continue to intercede for France and for the world!

Ahead of its public opening in December, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the restored Notre Dame more than five years after it was ravaged by fire. ...

11/21/2024

New vestments will be used for the re-opening of Notre-Dame Cathedral Dec. 7-8:
"They undoubtedly break with the richly embellished styles associated with the cathedral's near-900-year-old liturgical garb. At their center is a large gold cross, accented by debris fragments of vivid color-blocked red, blue, yellow, and green velvet. ... 'It’s something that is exploded that reconstructs itself,' Castelbajac said, likening the dissipated shards coming together to the cathedral’s own rebirth."

PARIS (AP) — When Jean-Charles de Castelbajac watched as Notre Dame cathedral burned in April 2019, he felt compelled to act somehow. Returning home, the French fashion designer began sketching ideas, imagining the monument’s reconstruction. So, when the Paris Archbishop’s emissary approached ...

11/18/2024

"The Virgin stands, stands, although she is filled with pain. We have just accompanied her walk, her return, by reciting the rosary and the joyful mysteries. We remain joyful about everything that happened after this fire. We remain joyful about everything that has been experienced around this cathedral for five years," Ulrich said.

A procession of hundreds of people holding candles walked through the streets of Paris to bring a famed statue of the Virgin Mary and child back to Notre-Dame Cathedral on Friday, five years after it was moved to a nearby church after a devastating fire.

11/09/2024

The bells have started ringing

11/09/2024

Happy 1700th anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran!

"Year by year, you sanctify the Church, the Bride of Christ,
foreshadowed in visible buildings,
so that, rejoicing as the mother of countless children,
she may be given her place in your heavenly glory."
-Preface of the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Photo: Mark Yancey

11/07/2024

Join the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's public lecture next Saturday, Nov. 16, "How Ritual Changes Space: From Pantheon to Sancta Maria ad Martyres."

Join us for the next event in our Public Lecture and Concert Series, a lecture on the dedication of the Pantheon in Rome by eminent scholar, Prof. Susan Rankin (Cambridge).

This event is LIVE ONLY, via Zoom, on Friday, Nov. 16th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST; no archived video will be made available. RSVP required. RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-ritual-changes-space-from-pantheon-to-sancta-maria-ad-martyres-tickets-981494956837?aff=oddtdtcreator

11/05/2024

Wonderful note found in a pew. On the proper treatment of children. The final sentence is priceless.

10/30/2024

Before and after of the restoration of the monumental baldacchino at St. Peters ahead of the 2025 Jubilee

Before and After: The recently restored baldachin of Bernini in St. Peter's. The left is the 'before' and right is the 'after' where one can now better see the gold gilt detailing.

Photo by Tamino Petelin šek via the Knights of Columbus