
Hasn't everything already been said about this WHS? In fact, 2 events took place in 2024 that are worth looking at Paris again (and nothing to do with the Olympics!).
First of all, the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris in December 2024. On the headlines of the media around the world, many of us have seen these images of Notre-Dame fully restored. Wishing to form my own opinion on the quality of this restoration, I waited mid-January, until the media blast had subsided, and I was able to enter the cathedral without booking online and without queuing (okay, it was a Wednesday!). Despite the crowd inside, I was speechless looking at the colors and the stunning lighting. While the restoration of Chartres cathedral is clearly exaggerated, this one is, in my opinion, successful. The stone has been cleaned, cleaned a lot certainly, but we can see that it's an old building. Enclosure of the choir, stained glass windows, wall paintings by Viollet le Duc, I rediscovered the cathedral that I have known for almost 25 years. I particularly appreciated the "Mays", these large paintings offered by the parisian goldsmiths' corporation in the 17th century: their colors are resplendent.
What a shame, however, that the archaeological excavations could not last a few more months... When one see the remains of the jube which have been found, one wonder what treasures are hidden under the choir! I hope the project of Notre-Dame museum located in Hôtel-Dieu will come true and will allow to admire these remains.
The 2nd event went unnoticed by the general public, but not by our community: the area of Paris WHS was extended from 365 to 531 ha. Yes, 50% more, thanks to a "minor" boundary modification. Hum... The addition of some sites would have certainly deserved a proper extension (the Jardin des Plantes for example), but I think this new area corrects some previous anomalies.
For example, Place de la Concorde was logically extended to the hôtel de la Marine and hôtel Crillon located just around.
Similarly, while a lot of buildings along the Seine were not included in the former area, now all urban blocks are inside it. This is the case, for example, of the medieval rue de Bièvres (Quartier Latin), picturesque rue des Barres (Marais) - with a nice view of St Gervais church (also included) - or the St Germain l'Auxerrois district, located between the church of the same name, rue de Rivoli, Théâtre du Châtelet and the Seine. Little known, this district was "spared" by Baron Haussmann and kept until today a medieval structure with buildings remodeled in the 17th and 18th centuries. I appreciate that a larger part of urban tissue of Paris is recognized by UNESCO, and not just monumental Paris.
And I start to imagine in the future, why not a larger site "Paris, the historical districts along the Seine" extended to the entire Marais district, the Quartier Latin and the Faubourg St Germain (7th arrondissement)? But this time with a proper extension !
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