Three years after the fire on April 15, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral, then known as the "National Treasure of France", collapsed its minaret and roof collapsed in this fire, but after the fire was extinguished, the 800-year-old Gothic building retained the main structure, and the two world-famous bell towers were also preserved.
Recently, the French National Institute of Archaeology (INRAP) announced that last month, in preparation for the reconstruction of the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, workers found a well-preserved 14th-century lead sarcophagus 20 meters underground of the church, and archaeologists and scientists will jointly open the coffin.
In addition, some objects were found, which seemed to string together an absurd story.
Let's start with a brief introduction to Notre Dame, the "national treasure of France".
Notre Dame Cathedral
In fact, the original name of Notre Dame de Paris does not have two words, because of the mutual exchange of world cultures, people remember the ancient and magnificent building of Notre Dame de Paris, there are many Catholic churches in France that are named after "Notre Dame", which can be comparable to its reputation and status at all, so it is also known as the French Catholic Cathedral.
The church is located at the southeastern end of the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine, which is known as the mind and heart of Paris, the center of justice, policing and religion in the country, and the Place des Notre-Dame also has the symbol of the "zero starting point" of the French road network, which is the starting point of the road mileage from Paris to anywhere in the country.
Construction began in 1163 AD, the entire church lasted more than 180 years until 1345 was fully completed, covering an area of about 6,000 square meters, because of its Gothic architectural style, altars, cloisters, doors and windows and other carvings and paintings, as well as the large number of art treasures from the 13th to 17th centuries in the hall, this building can be described as an epoch-making symbol in the history of European architecture.
In the center of the church hall is dedicated to the Virgin and Child, the statues of angels stand on both sides, flanked by statues of Adam and Eve, which can accommodate 9,000 people, of which 1,500 can sit on the podium, in fact, the interior of the church is extremely simple and almost no decoration.
During the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, most of the treasures of the church were destroyed or plundered, and the devastated Notre Dame was later even turned into a wine storehouse, which was not returned to religion until 1804 after Napoleon came to power, and in 1844 the historian and architect Ole Le Dijque presided over the restoration, and the project lasted for 23 years to regain the long-lost glory of Notre Dame, almost maintaining its original original appearance!
A fire 3 years ago put Notre Dame on the road to restoration!
How is the restoration progressing today?
After the fire, the overall building was badly damaged, most of the top of the building was burned down, and the spire collapsed in the fire. Coupled with covid-19, weather, and lead pollution (the roof of the original Notre Dame was made of pure lead, and 300 tons of lead melted during the fire, releasing a huge amount of lead vapor), reconstruction work has been repeatedly delayed.
Until recently, the restoration preparations have gradually improved, the cleaning work is now basically complete, the walls and vaults have been roughly restored to their original color, the temporary metal scaffolding has been erected, and parts of the area have been used to ensure that the structure is stable and safely covered by waterproof mesh covers, so that the next step of the restoration work can be carried out.
There are still many structures and objects waiting to be restored, the most important of which is the restoration of the spire of Notre Dame, for which there is not much debate about the design scheme, and the huge pipe organ in the hall is in urgent need of cleaning and maintenance.
Repairs are now intense, demanding that every effort be made to allow Notre Dame cathedral to reopen ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Unfortunately, the sarcophagus was found during the restoration of the spire, and the discovery of the sarcophagus also brought a series of puzzles.
What exactly was found?
The restoration of the spire must have been dug and cleaned, and then during construction a well-preserved lead sarcophagus buried 65 feet (19.8 m) underground was found, 1.95 m (6 ft 4 in) long and 48 cm (1 ft 6 in) wide, lying in the brick pipe of a 19th-century heating system, which was sent to the institute for preparation of an open coffin after on-site excavations.
Scientists peeked inside the sarcophagus with an endoscopic camera, found only the upper part of a skeleton and a pillow of leaves, and speculated that there might be hair, textiles and dried organics.
It is believed that the sarcophagus is old and may belong to the 14th century, on the grounds that it was found under a mound with 14th-century furniture.
In addition, archaeologists have found many medieval artifacts under the church: a statue, 10 medieval (5th-15th century) plaster sarcophagus, and a treasure trove of fragments of original roof screens dating back to the 13th century, one of which contains fabric remains embroidered with gold threads and some skeletons.
What are these bits and pieces of information strung together, absurd stories?
An absurd story?
This time in the restoration work of Notre Dame de Paris, a 14th-century furniture mound was found 20 meters below the original site of the minaret, and then a 14th-century lead sarcophagus was found underneath it, which lay in a 19th-century heating brick pipe, and the skeleton inside the sarcophagus was only the upper part, so where did the lower half go? Could it have been moved so that all the skeletons had poured into the upper half?
There are also 10 medieval (5th-15th century) plaster plaster sarcophagus and 13th-century screen fragments.
While Notre Dame cathedral was destroyed at the end of the 18th century and repaired for 23 years in 1844 in the 19th century, has anyone been able to do anything other than repair construction during such a long period of restoration?
We may wish to make a bold speculation that perhaps during the restoration process in the 19th century, one or more of the more well-connected workers inadvertently discovered these things buried deep underground during construction, and gradually gathered together to hide near the heating pipes, waiting for the right time to take out and exchange them for silver to enjoy life.
Either there was no time during construction, or there was no way to enter the pipeline at the end of construction, or there was an accident during construction, and it was not discovered until it was repaired again today, if this is the case, it can give archaeologists a lot of problems!
Of course, the specific age of the lead sarcophagus can only be determined by carbon detection technology after the opening of the museum, and the sex, health status and so on can be determined according to the relics and skeleton.
If the facts can prove that it is indeed a medieval sarcophagus, the absurd story aside, for France a very rare funeral rite has been discovered, and it is possible to determine social identity.
By the way, France has always been the base camp of Catholicism, although the king of medieval France administered the country, but Catholicism is the faith of the people, you can imagine how high the social hierarchy of the church is, and the identity of the people who can be buried in the church is certainly not much worse!
The 14th-century sarcophagus lying in a 19th-century heating brick pipe is truly bizarre, what do you think would be the reason?
The image comes from the Internet.
Resources:
The Notre Dame church in Paris was rebuilt after the fire, and the sarcophagus was found 20 meters underground, and the coffin was revealed - 04-16 Southern Metropolis Daily
Notre Dame de Paris - Encyclopedia