Mty o Notre-Dame – Gotika, imperialismus a nrod Foletti Ivan (2025)

In April 2019, Paris watched its cathedral burn, and the nation mourned as politicians immediately announced its restoration. But which cathedral was meant to come back to life? This Czech-language book presents Notre-Dame as a building in constant transformation. From the 12th century to its ceremonial reopening in 2024, the cathedral has been reshaped according to the ideological needs of the monarchy, revolution, empire and republic. The authors place Gothic art within Mediterranean and Eurasian connections and challenge the myth of French exceptionalism. They vividly portray the cathedral as a victim of revolutionary iconoclasm, a witness to Napoleons self-coronation, an object of Eugne Viollet-le-Ducs romanticizing restoration and a subject of Macrons new mythologization. Notre-Dame emerges as a remarkable palimpsest of power, imagination and memory, and as a place where politics, heritage and cultural identity collide.