Reinventing Cathedrals. Ecclesiastical Buildings of the Middle Ages in France as surfaces of Projection in Modern Times (French Revolution to the reconstruction of Notre-Dame in Paris after the conflagration 2019)

• Applicant: Dr. Nathalie-Josephine von Möllendorff
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 498777834

Based on the example of French medieval cathedrals, this research project investigates the mechanisms of re-coding and the dynamics of the repeated inscription of meaning in historical architectural monuments. The projekt will be based on the thesis that medieval sacred buildings – even more so than museumised objects – increasingly serve as projection surfaces in modern times. This is why we will investigate to what extent contemporary notions of the Middle Ages influence not only the reception of these buildings but also the measures of monument conservation. It will be deduced how these imaginations of "medieval" since the French Revolution interact, i.e. to what extent the ideas of the Middle Ages influence the appearance of the cathedrals, which, however, finds its way back into the reception and thus generates new medieval images. To this extent, sociocultural, -political, -economic and artistic influences as well as measures of monument preservation will be analysed and interpreted in their respective time context. Already during the preliminary work it has been shown that above all artistic and popular media reception as well as the different fashions of activity in monument preservation have had a particularly lasting effect. In addition, it must be noted that, in contrast to the current maxim of a findings-oriented, science-based preservation of historical monuments, primarily creative restoration concepts were undertaken, which were based on partly subjective assessments of the actors involved. Monument preservation is thus primarily to be understood as a cultural technique that is not only in a state of constant change but is also subject to fashions and can only be understood in the respective time context. The conflagration at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April 2019 and the discussions on reconstruction that have taken place since then are particularly impressive proof of the topicality and relevance of this research topic. Especially for the French field of research, where cathedrals are in a very special way part of the cultural identity, there has been no formation of theory, even though this is where the origins of monument conservation lie. The aim of the research project is therefore on the one hand to close a glaring gap in research, but at the same time to make a contribution to the ability of the disciplines involved to discuss the topic and to demonstrate the complexity and dynamics of mutual and multi-layered influences.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants