We warmly invite you to the opening lecture by Prof. Ivan Foletti, which will once again launch our traditional StředověC JinaX lecture series for this semester.

Join us on February 20 at 7:00 PM for an inspiring talk and immerse yourself in a topic that resonates across Europe. Do the restoration interventions on the fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral truly reflect its medieval state? Or are they merely our own perceptions of what the “true” Middle Ages should look like?

On December 7, 2024, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk met at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris to attend the reopening of the building after the devastating fire. Macron declared that the restoration efforts were a miracle, making the cathedral more beautiful than ever before. Both experts and the general public celebrated the successful “return” of the medieval original to its “authentic” form. However, what was left unsaid is that the current Notre-Dame corresponds to its medieval state only in terms of architectural mass, while in every other aspect, it primarily reflects the history of 19th-century Europe. The restoration and significance of the building align much more with nationalistic and even colonial ideals, which have also shaped our contemporary world. Macron, Trump, and Musk fit into this “version” of the Parisian cathedral much more than it might seem at first glance.

The lecture will be streamed online on our YouTube channel.

The lecture is part of the Kontexty humanity project by energeia o.p.s.