This undated photo courtesy of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine shows an interactive exhibition on Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, New York. (The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, via AP)
This undated photo courtesy of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine shows an interactive exhibition on Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, New York. (The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, via AP)
NEW YORK (RNS) — The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan is hosting an exhibition on Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, revisiting its 850-year history using augmented reality. Histovery, the French tech startup behind the project, hopes it will attract history nerds and tech enthusiasts alike.
The which runs through the end of January, opened as Notre Dame reopened after its five-year restoration, a coincidence of the calendar but one that the Very Rev. Patrick Malloy, dean of St. John’s, called symbolic. He said the two monuments have a kinship as two of the world’s most renowned Gothic cathedrals, both of which were damaged by fires in April 2019.
Though less widely known than Notre Dame’s fire, St. John’s conflagration began in its crypt during Palm Sunday services in 2019, forcing worshippers to evacuate and resume worship on the church’s lawn. The fire at Notre Dame broke out a day later. (The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was investigating possible connections between the two fires, said Malloy.)
And while St. John’s fire did not result in a five-year-long closure, as Notre Dame’s did, the smoke from the crypt fire did cause St. John’s to ship its prodigious pipe organ across the country for rehabilitation. The organ played its first notes since its return last month, the same week Notre Dame reopened. The reverend sees symbolic connections in these odds, noting, “Their five years of rehabilitation and our five years of rehabilitation coincided.â€
“Notre Dame and St. John the Divine are both symbols of resilience. Hosting this extraordinary exhibition connects two of the world’s most monumental cathedrals and invites our visitors to rediscover the past in a vibrant, new way,†wrote Malloy in a press release announcing the exhibition’s debut in November.
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Malloy saw the exhibition for the first time in London, where it had debuted in February 2024 at Westminster Abbey, and he was immediately drawn to its use of augmented reality to plunge visitors into the cathedral’s world. The exhibition, he said, is in keeping with St. John’s efforts to incorporate technology into its worship and other programming. When he returned to New York, Malloy suggested St. John’s host the exhibition too.
The augmented reality feature allows visitors “to move back and forward in time and to see Notre Dame de Paris before it was even a building when it was just a piece of land, and then see it gradually grow and change and then burn and be restored,†the dean said. The exhibition also includes photographs and a 3D reconstruction of the cathedral.
Upon entering the cathedral’s St. James Chapel, visitors are invited to grab a “Histopad,†a touchscreen tablet on which they can watch scenes of medieval Paris and see the construction of Notre Dame unfold, introducing them to the different artisans involved in Notre Dame’s construction over nearly 200 years and showing highlights such as the construction of the Gothic choir in the late 12th century and the coronation of Emperor Napoleon I in 1804.
The “Histopads†captivate young visitors, noted the reverend. “It’s very exciting to see young people so engaged,†he said.
Histovery developed a similar exhibition at the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, in southern France. In it, visitors discover what life was like in the medieval castle that was the papal residence before the pope moved back to Italy in the 14th century. The company also designed the exhibition at the Alamo Museum in Texas, which was dedicated to the history of the 1836 Alamo Battle and the Texas Revolution.
“This augmented exhibition is a celebration of the extraordinary history and splendor of our beloved Notre-Dame de Paris. We are particularly thrilled that St. John the Divine will host this exhibition in December 2024, a month that coincides with the much-anticipated reopening of Notre Dame after a five-year reconstruction period,†said Bruno de Sa Moreira, CEO of History, in a press release.
The reopening of Notre Dame particularly enthused the community; the long-awaited event drew many visitors to the exhibition. “People who couldn’t go to Paris but could come here. It was a good way to be part of the festivities in Paris without buying a plane ticket,†said Malloy.
