Overheard at National Geographic’s ninth season began on January 18th with an episode that goes behind the scenes of the cover story of the February 2022 magazine issue, “Resurrecting Notre-Dame de Paris.” Co-host Amy Briggs interviews photographer Tomas van Houtryve about the red tape involved with getting into the cathedral as it undergoes extensive renovations. What follows is a recap of this engaging episode.
(Disney)
Tragedy struck on April 15th, 2019, when the historic icon of Paris, Notre Dame, caught fire. As a team of professionals works tirelessly to restore the cathedral to its former glory, new stories from the cathedral’s eight centuries of history are uncovered. When construction began in 1163, Paris was small by today’s standards, but one of Europe’s biggest cities. Construction would last almost 200 years and it was the tallest structure in Paris until the Eiffel Tower was added to the skyline in 1889. Since 1769, Notre-Dame de Paris has been known as point zéro, not only the heart of the city but the heart of France, with road signs throughout the country informing citizens of the distance from the cathedral. That’s why the fire shocked the nation beyond the damage to one of the world’s greatest landmarks.
The landmark became world-famous after the publication of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831 (adapted as a Disney animated feature in 1996), which made the cathedral a must-see and brought in so many tourists that it set off a 20-year restoration in 1844, led by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. During this era, a new spire was added along with many features that make the cathedral an icon. That spire is part of what was destroyed in the fire. Two-thirds of the wooden roof was burned in the fire.
Covering the restoration project for National Geographic is photographer Tomas van Houtryve, a Belgian American who lives in Paris. Gaining access to the historic cathedral while under construction was the second most difficult task he’s had to do since becoming a professional photographer, the first being entry into Pyongyang, North Korea. He had to go through safety training for lead poisoning and safety harnesses, but Tomas was already an experienced climber, having grown up near Yosemite National Park where he spent his teenage years climbing. This experience has helped him bond with the rope access technicians working on the restoration, allowing him access to the local culture in addition to the cathedral. One of them, Kévin Dessons, is briefly interviewed in the episode and confesses to having never visited Notre Dame before.
Tomas van Houtryve recounts his first time entering Notre Dame once cleared for the assignment, looking up at the hole in the ceiling where the spire had burned away. Climbing up the many spiral staircases past the Galerie de Chimères with many of the cathedral’s signature gargoyles, he was struck by the gorgeous views of Paris at sunrise out before him, with the destruction of Notre Dame behind him. Today, the cathedral is full of scaffolding as work diligently progresses, uncovering artifacts from the original craftsmen who built it.
Treated with the same level of care as an archeological dig, nobody is allowed to remove an object from Notre Dame without logging its details. Tomas learned that in the middle ages, stone carvers would sign the back of the stones they completed as a way to keep track of how much they were owed. These signatures have been unseen for centuries and now researchers are able to get a better understanding of how many workers it took to build the cathedral and also match the work of these craftsmen with other structures in France and beyond, with some matching up to Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
Tomas’ artistic vision for his assignment has led to a mix of old image capturing techniques and cutting edge technology. Celebrating the beginnings of photography, he has used a 19th-century wet plate camera to capture new images of one of the most photographed structures in the world. It made him think about how long after he passes, people in the future will look at these images in the same way he views some of the first photos ever taken of the landmark. He was also granted permission to use a drone to capture video both inside and outside the cathedral, capturing perspectives never seen before.
You can see Tomas van Houtryve’s amazing photos of the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris on the cover and featured story in the February 2022 issue of National Geographic magazine. Expanded digital content for subscribers include video capture by his drones. Disney+ subscribers can also enjoy the National Geographic documentary Notre Dame: Race Against the Inferno from 2019, which covered the fire and the race to put it out anad save the landmark. The cathedral has been an important part of French history and will continue to be the heart of the country thanks to the tireless efforts to restore it.
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