Cultural heritage and catastrophe: The unofficial international competitions held for the paris´ notre dame cathedral after the 2019 fire

Abstract

The study analyzes the relations between contemporary architecture and historical heritage in contexts of catastrophe by analyzing the Notre Dame de Paris after the fire in 2019. The day after the tragedy, the first Minister Edouard Philippe announced a possible international architectural competition to rebuild the cathedral for an “inventive reconstruction”. Then, architects published proposals for the Notre Dame´s reconstruction on social media. Unofficial contests were carried out by the websites Freelancer.com and Go Archictect. The French Senate answered that the restoration should restore the cathedral's last visually known state. The article will analyze the set of proposals made for Notre Dame, suggesting analytical categories for understanding the main design themes raised: The Future Cathedral; Architectures elsewhere; Sustainable Notre Dame; Paris, city of light; The symbolism of water; Eternalizing the catastrophe; New technologies.