Restored Notre-Dame to have its own museum in Paris’s Hôtel-Dieu

This article was first published by the Art Newspaper.

Notre-Dame cathedral will have its own museum, the French president Emmanuel Macron has decided. It will be located in the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital immediately northwest of the Paris landmark’s famous towers.

The idea of a museum, like those installed next to the cathedrals of Reims and Strasbourg, or the Duomo in Florence, was first mooted in the 1930s. It was supported by cultural heritage associations but was met with strong resistance from the various administrations overseeing the site. Macron closed down the debate and is due to unveil the plans during the cathedral’s reopening this month following its restoration after the catastrophic 2019 fire (see Notre-Dame Restoration Special Report inside).

The proposal received fresh impetus when the agency in charge of Paris’s hospitals decided to renovate the Hôtel-Dieu and establish a new health centre. One-third of the space will be leased to a developer for a shopping mall, co-working offices and restaurants.