Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday 24 June 2023

Restoring the interior of Notre Dame


One piece of good news in recent days has been the announcement by the church authorities in Paris that they are abandoning the highly controversial ideas that had been proposed for the new scheme for the interior of Notre Dame following the 2019 fire. 

Instead they have decided upon a more conservative plan that reflects the historic arrangement of French medieval cathedrals. In addition there are plans for a major new reliquary for the Crown of Thorns acquired by St Louis in the mid-thirteenth century. Together with the already announced plans to recreate Viollet-Le-Duc’s flèche over the crossing it means that the restored cathedral will remain faithful to its builders’ intentions.

The Daily Telegraph website reports on the new plans and on reaction to them as well as the progress being made with the restoration of the main fabric in Notre-Dame shelves ‘politically correct’ restoration after backlash


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