Behind Notre-Dame’s Monumental Restoration

The devastating fire at Notre-Dame de Paris on April 15, 2019 reminded the world of the significance of humanity’s built heritage and inspired a resolute commitment to rebuild. The extraordinary project that restored the beloved French landmark in just five years marks a triumph in preservation and a renewed commitment to safeguarding our shared cultural heritage.
Following Notre-Dame's reopening in December 2024, get a behind-the-scenes look at the revival of this icon of French medieval architecture with World Monuments Fund’s annual Paul Mellon Lecture on March 12, taking place this year as part of the organization’s 60th anniversary program.
Special guests will include Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect for historic monuments in France, including Notre-Dame de Paris; Barry Bergdoll, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History and Archaeology professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University; Bas Smets, landscape designer; and Patrick Malloy, dean at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, in conversation with WMF President and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur.
Co-presented with the World Monuments Fund and Cathedral of St. John the Divine, this event will share insights from what has become the largest preservation project of the century and consider how sacred and historic sites around the world can learn from each other about preventing and rebuilding after a fire.
This event is free and open to the public with an RSVP. The event will also be livestreamed for those wishing to join us from home. The video will be available on the Cathedral's YouTube channel.
The Paul Mellon Lecture at World Monuments Fund is made possible, in part, by the Paul Mellon Education Fund.
This program is co-presented by World Monuments Fund (WMF), the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the Columbia University Maison Française and is part of a national lecture series presented by WMF with events in San Francisco, Palm Beach, and New York City. Explore upcoming events at wmf.org/events
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Philippe Villeneuve
Chief architect for historic monuments in France
Philippe Villeneuve is chief architect for historic monuments in France, including Notre-Dame de Paris, and has overseen restoration efforts at the cathedral since the 2019 fire.
Barry Bergdoll
Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University
Barry Bergdoll is the Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Professor Bergdoll’s broad interests center on modern architectural history. Trained in art history rather than architecture, he has an approach most closely allied with cultural history and the history and sociology of professions. He has studied questions of the politics of cultural representation in architecture, the larger ideological content of nineteenth-century architectural theory, and the changing role of both architecture as a profession and architecture as a cultural product in nineteenth-century European society. In exhibitions at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and at the Museum of Modern Art, where he served as Philip Johnson Chief Curator from 2007 to 2013, Bergdoll has offered a series of exhibitions intended to offer more inclusive visions of subjects from Mies van der Rohe (and his relationship to garden reform and landscape), the Bauhaus, Henri Labrouste, Le Corbusier, Latin American post-war architecture, and most recently Frank Lloyd Wright.
Bas Smets
Landscape architect & Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University
Bas Smets (b. 1975) is a renowned Belgian landscape architect, civil engineer, and architect. Smets founded his Brussels-based firm in 2007, and has since completed many international projects, ranging from large parks to urban forests. His notable works include the redesign of the public space around Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Parc des Ateliers in Arles, and the Tour & Taxis park in Brussels. He is known for creating "augmented landscapes" that address climate challenges by integrating cooling microclimates and sustainable urban ecology. Smets has received numerous accolades, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the French Academy of Architecture's Urbanism Award. In 2023, he was appointed Professor in Practice at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, where he teaches "Biospheric Urbanism", focusing on climate adaptation through landscape design.
Patrick Malloy
Dean, Cathedral of St. John the Divine
The Very Reverend Dr. Patrick Malloy, who joined the Cathedral in the summer of 2016, was formally installed as the 11th Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in December 2023. Prior to joining the Cathedral, he served as the Interim Dean at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver. He has taught at The General Theological Seminary, New York, where he was Professor of Liturgy; St. John’s University, Collegeville; the University of Santa Clara, California; and Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. In 2008-2009, Canon Malloy, then Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Allentown, PA, designed and was general contractor for the renovation of the church. For this work, he received an architecture design award in 2012 from the American Institute of Architects. Dean Malloy holds a PhD in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Bénédicte de Montlaur
President and CEO, World Monuments Fund
Bénédicte de Montlaur is President and CEO of World Monuments Fund (WMF), the world’s foremost private organization dedicated to saving extraordinary places while empowering the communities around them. Since 1965, WMF’s global team of experts has preserved the world's diverse cultural heritage using the highest international standards at over 700 sites in 112 countries.
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Inaugurated in 2003, the Paul Mellon Lecture is supported by the Paul Mellon Education Fund at World Monuments Fund (WMF) and enables audiences to learn about critical issues in the field of cultural heritage.
WMF is the leading independent organization devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places to enrich lives and build mutual understanding. For more than 55 years, working at more than 700 sites in 112 countries, its highly skilled experts have applied proven and effective techniques to the preservation of important architectural and cultural heritage sites around the globe. Through the World Monuments Watch—a biennial, nomination-based program—WMF uses cultural heritage conservation to empower communities and improve human well-being. In partnership with local communities, funders, and governments, WMF seeks to inspire an enduring commitment to stewardship for future generations. Headquartered in New York City, the organization has offices and affiliates worldwide.