In 2019, the world watched in stunned horror as the famous 800-year-old cathedral Notre Dame in Paris burned. The moment the iconic spire collapsed into a fire-licked and ember-filled void is seared into our collective memory. Thankfully, firefighters could extinguish the fire and preserve much of the building. However, everything inside was caked with a thick layer of water, ash, and a cocktail of other toxic chemicals.
After the fire was put out and people were trying to grapple with the tragic event, the prime minister of France declared that Notre Dame would be restored to its former glory. In addition, improvements would be made (like a fire suppression system), so that something like this would never happen again. Donations poured in from all over the world to fund the immense cost of the meticulous restoration.
As work began and surfaces were cleaned, a surprising discovery was made when attention turned to the stone floor. As they cleared away dirt, ash and broken bricks, two sarcophagi made with lead were discovered buried in the rubble. Hammered into the rough shape of a human body, the heavy soft metal coffins were lifted out and moved into a more secure location to be examined. After metal blades opened each sarcophagus, the skeletons inside sparked a team of scientists and forensic doctors to start piecing together clues to discover who the remains belonged to and why they were buried in the Cathedral floor.
In addition to the bodies, they also discovered another mystery buried under the cathedral floor—thousands of broken sculpture fragments. After some investigative work, it was determined that one of the coffins and the broken fragments have a connection related to the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent changes made to high mass in the Catholic church as a result.
This PBS Nova episode is the third in a series of episodes having to do with Notre Dame. In 2020, “Saving Notre Dame” was released. Then “Rebuilding Notre Dame,” was released in 2022. In 2024 a third episode, “Lost Tombs of Notre Dame,” tells more of the story of this great 12th-century cathedral, the fire, its reconstruction, and important discoveries along the way. (PBS.org)
About the Author
Sam Gutierrez is the Associate Director at the Eugene Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary. More of his creative work can be found at printandpoem.com
