Patricio del Real: Notre-Dame Fire 'Act of Liberation'

Patricio del Real is Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard.

It makes sense that a Harvard professor would refer to the Notre-Dame fire as an "act of liberation."

From Rolling Stone:

Over the course of the past few centuries, the cathedral has played a role in major historical events, from the coronation of kings to the crowning of Napoleon to the requiem mass of President Charles de Gaulle. And Notre Dame has served as a symbol of not just French historical identity, but Catholicism in general. “It has a double meaning,” says Jean-Robert Armogathe, a French Catholic priest and historian who served as the chaplain at Notre Dame from 1980 to 1985. “It has been the center of Catholic life and of France for 800 years.” As Armogathe points out, it is also quite literally the center of Paris: a gold star outside the cathedral marks Point Zero, the supposed center of the city.

But for some people in France, Notre Dame has also served as a deep-seated symbol of resentment, a monument to a deeply flawed institution and an idealized Christian European France that arguably never existed in the first place. “The building was so overburdened with meaning that its burning feels like an act of liberation,” says Patricio del Real, an architecture historian at Harvard University. If nothing else, the cathedral has been viewed by some as a stodgy reminder of “the old city — the embodiment of the Paris of stone and faith — just as the Eiffel Tower exemplifies the Paris of modernity, joie de vivre and change,” Michael Kimmelmann wrote for the New York Times.

Despite politicians on both sides of the French political spectrum discouraging people from trying to politicize the Notre Dame fire, it would be a mistake to view the building as little more than a Paris tourist attraction, says John Harwood, an architectural historian and associate professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s literally a political monument. All cathedrals are,” he says. For centuries, the cathedral was the seat of the bishop of the Catholic Church at a time when there was virtually no distinction between church and state. “It was the center and seat of political power not just in Paris, but in France,” he says. “And that remained the case even after the French Revolution and through successive revolutions and political power and regimes.”

Understandably, this Rolling Stone article was criticized.

From FOX News:

Rolling Stone Magazine is facing criticism on Tuesday over a quote used on social media to highlight a piece on the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral after the devastating fire.

The article, titled, “How Should France Rebuild Notre Dame?” asks several experts and historians about the first steps in repairing the damage. Harvard University architecture historian Patricio del Real offered a new take on the meaning behind the fire.

“The building was so overburdened with meaning that its burning feels like an act of liberation,” Patricio del Real told Rolling Stone.

The magazine chose the quote to highlight the post on social media, which drew fierce backlash and was “ratio’d” on Twitter, meaning it had more replies than likes and retweets.

Rolling Stone deserved the "fierce backlash" it received.

It's shockingly insensitive and religiously intolerant to view the catastrophic fire as an "act of liberation."