Restorations: Notre Dame de Paris, a Medieval Monastery and Me

Restorations take place all the time in Paris. One of the things I admire about French culture, is that old edifices are more likely to be restored than torn down and replaced with some modern building.

That certainly is the case with Notre Dame and a recently visited medieval jewel in the Marais.  On a personal level, I look forward to having a restoration procedure done on yours truly.

Obviously, as a mere mortal, I am not as old as either, nor historic, and certainly not famous at all.  However, the one thing I do have in common is that some of my infrastructure needs renovation, like a much-dented pillar!

Following a recent hip cortisone injection, that the French call an infiltration, I took full advantage of it to the hilt.  It allowed a brief period of walking painless without a limp.  Above, you see me grinning like a Cheshire cat, enjoying a rhubarb spritz overlooking the Seine.   Too bad it lasted only about 5 days!

It was the weekend of Journées du Patrimoine, or heritage days, where renowned monuments and edifices all over France are open for free visiting.  Some are exceptionally open only for the occasion.

We stopped for some ice cream at Berthillon before crossing over Pont Louis Philippe which connects Ile St Louis to the part of the right bank of Paris where I was going.

An astonishing vaulted medieval dwelling in the Marais, miraculously lay hidden for several centuries.   It was the urban outpost of a Cistercian monastery called Abbaye Ourscamp north of Paris that was started in 641 and is still going strong!

It was underneath several apartments, whose occupants must have never been intrigued enough to wonder what was behind the walls of their underground caves.

Yet, despite it being a surprise and much-valued discovery, this jewel has taken quite a while to gather the necessary funds to restore it to its previous splendor.

The line was fairly long on Rue Francois Miron, which already boasts of having one of the oldest houses in Paris, as seen in the adjacent photo. It is just south of Rue Rivoli not far from the Hotel de Ville and the banks of the Seine.

Friendly teenagers majoring in tourism from a nearby high school greeted us at the door. After asking where we were from, they explained this was part of their studies with an exam to follow.

Paris Historique, which has taken the restoration of Ourscamp under its wings, occupies the ground floor of the project.

Walking downstairs was like entering another time.   I was struck by the slight eeriness of the sight. A noticeable musty odor of staleness from ancient stones and dust rested in the air, not surprising as it was constructed in the 13 century.

Many odds and ends of stone fragments, were left behind from the 6 tonnes of crumbled pieces that were hauled out as part of the restoration.

The old stone pillars had crumbled in some areas and were girdled by large steel belts to shore them up from collapsing.  Many of the vaulted ceilings were likewise supported with wooden planks placed by volunteer architects.

This marvelous dwelling served as a storage area and urban dormitory for Cistercian monks who would bring in goods from their rural monastery North of the city to sell in the Paris markets.

They had their own indoor well and a small outdoor courtyard which had been recently brought to new life.  The wooden tree trunks used in constructing many medieval dwellings is called pan de bois.

The rounded cubicles seen on high were latrines for the monks who slept upstairs.  Wooden buckets placed underneath had to be hauled outside for dumping as in those days, the sewers flowed in the middle of the streets.

That is why you will see many medieval streets in Paris with a V shape, that incline towards the middle.  There weren’t any sidewalks, so walking around Paris back then was not a pleasant stroll, as you could imagine.

People from the higher strata of society, noticeable by their dress, were given the right of way to walk on the upper edges of the streets!  So much for romanticizing medieval times in Paris!

Notre Dame’s restoration is almost finished!   Since the fire, the sky view over Il de la Cité has been dominated by multiple layers of scaffolding and cranes circling around the cathedral.

After much debate, it was decided to restore the roof and steeple to as close to a replica of Viollet le Duc  as possible.  Bravo!  They are finishing up the immense reconstruction of the roof, which was referred to appropriately enough as the “forest”.  

Huge, tall, and thick oak trees were sourced from various dense forests of France.  Many of these immense logs were donated out of patriotism and love to reconstruct Notre Dame de Paris.

Well-trained artisans of medieval wood cutting and carpentry along with stone cutters have been involved in this immense project of the beloved Notre Dame Cathedral restoration.

This included cutting stone from the same quarries in the Val Oise that originally provided the creme-colored ones that Notre Dame used in constructing the cathedral in 1163!

The other day, I still couldn’t see the base of the new steeple, but I am sure it is coming along.  The goal is to finish Notre Dame’s restoration by the summer of 2024, in hopes of the Paris Summer Olympics 2024!

After the visit, we headed to a peniche (barge) bar for aperitifs and to take in the last rays of the sun.  I enjoy sitting by the Seine, watching the many bateau mouches pass by.

Basically, I am at the end of any nonsurgical therapeutic efforts to help my poor over-walked arthritic hip.   I had hoped that the infiltration would have lasted enough to possibly go to my high school reunion in the States. When the hip bone is dented and the cartilage is thin and fissured, it makes for painful walking.

As for me, I am looking to set a surgery date for hip replacement soon.  I am tired of limping in pain!   I really miss traveling and all of my walking around, as there is still much to discover in this beautiful city!

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