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# Will Claire Tabouret's Ugly Botch Still Replace Viollet-le-Duc's Historic Windows, Which Survived the Burning of Notre-Dame?
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/urodlivaia-podelka-kler-tabure-vse-taki-zamenit-istoricheskie-vitrazhi-violle-le-diuka-vyzhivshie-posle-sozhzheniia-notr-dama/
- Published: 2026-04-23T14:07:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:26:14.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Art, Heritage, Society, Paris

So, let us take matters in order. In December 2023 Macron announced that in the six chapels of the south nave of Notre-Dame, which came through the fire of 2019 undamaged, Viollet-le-Duc's stained glass would be replaced with contemporary windows by the French artist Claire Tabouret. For which €4 million has been allocated from the public purse.

Viollet-le-Duc's windows, grisailles of 1855-1865 with floral and geometric motifs, miraculously escaped the fire. They were restored and cleaned in the course of the cathedral's general restoration. They are an integral part of the monument's historic appearance. The sole reason for their removal is Macron's wish to leave a mark on the age.

In July 2024 the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture rejected the project unanimously: the creation of a contemporary work must not lead to the sacrifice of heritage elements protected in the public interest. The Ministry of Culture ignored this verdict. An investigation was published into how officials attempted to falsify the outcome of the commission's vote, releasing through friendly media outlets disinformation about an "approval" of the project.

When, in December 2025, an exhibition of full-scale mock-ups of Tabouret's windows, entitled D'un seul souffle, opened at the Grand Palais, the criticism became concrete. Besides the fact that it is simply unattractive and does not suit the architecture and style of the cathedral, the chief technical complaint is this: the artist composed her figures as though the stone tracery of the windows did not exist. Her figures flow from one section into the next, and the stone verticals will slice through the heads, hands and garments of the characters right down the middle. This is either incompetence or a demonstrative disregard for architecture. Aesthetically: bright turquoise, pink and yellow patches, circular compositions, decorative flatness and blurred faces do not sustain any dialogue with the Gothic architecture of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries.

The petition against this blemish on the face of the French heritage has gathered more than 335,000 signatures. The association Sites & Monuments brought an action before the Paris administrative court seeking annulment of the state contract. But the court rejected the action in November 2025\. The association is now preparing a further action, against the permit for the building works.

The Diocese of Paris, according to available information, has distanced itself from the project. Strange to say.

As for the creator of this outrage, to understand the context it is worth knowing that she has long been described as an artist inspired by migrants. She is backed by galleries from the premier league of the international art market, several of her works have already been acquired for the Pinault collection, many of her paintings recall illustrations from a pamphlet on the benefits of occultism and demon worship, and at the 2022 Venice Biennale she showed the project "I Am a Spacious, Singing Flesh" on queer, gender and feminist themes; the direction of her political commitment is obvious.

We are watching another battle in the great European culture war. Macron, desiring at any price to leave a mark, chooses an artist with a markedly "progressive" profile to replace the windows in the country's principal cathedral. This is being done against the will of the professional community, in defiance of a petition of 335,000 people, and ignoring the unanimous refusal of the heritage commission