A medieval coffin has been unearthed in Notre Dame cathedral in an archaeological dig in advance of the reconstruction of the fire-damaged site.
The sarcophagus, made of lead, was uncovered along with other tombs under the paving stones at the central crossing of the nave and transept. Describing what it called a find of “remarkable scientific quality”, the ministry of culture said that the coffin was completely preserved.
Experts believe that the unusual artefact, which has not yet been opened, contains a high dignitary who died in the late 14th century, more than a hundred years after the completion of the Gothic cathedral for which construction began in 1163. Notre Dame has traditionally been the burial place of archbishops, bishops and members of the nobility. French royals were interred in the Saint Denis basilica in the northern suburbs. Notre Dame was built without a crypt so bodies were interred under the floor or in sacrophagi above the ground. A funeral crypt was dug in 1711. The last person to be interred there was Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris, in 2007.
The team has used a tiny endoscopic camera to examine the sarcophagus. “You can glimpse pieces of fabric, hair and above all a pillow of leaves on top of the head, a well-known phenomenon when religious leaders were buried,” said Christophe Besnier, the lead archaeologist. “The fact that these plant elements are still inside means the body is in a very good state of conservation.”
The archaeological team are working before scaffolding is installed to support the rebuilding of the wood and lead 19th-century spire that crashed to the cathedral floor, smashing the floor, on the night of the fire of April 2019. As well as other graves under the chequered paving, the archaeological team uncovered a pit containing colourful painted sculptures that were part of the original 13th-century rood screen, which separates the altar area from the nave.
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The items were quickly identified because they resemble pieces of the screen that were retrieved from under the floor when the architect Eugène Viollet-le-duc renovated the cathedral in the mid-19th century. He designed and erected the Gothic-style spire. The pieces of rood screen were deposited at the time at the nearby Louvre museum, where they contributed to the realisation that colour was widely used in the interiors of the great medieval cathedrals.
In the aftermath of the 2019 Notre Dame disaster, which turned the interior into a pile of charred roof timbers and spire debris, archaeologists have used the clean-up to achieve a better understanding of the religious and architectural significance of a building which had not been deeply documented.
A full-length feature film about the fire, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, opens in French cinemas today. Notre Dame on Fire depicts 24 hours around the fire and then the cathedral’s reconstruction. Work on rebuilding, using materials and design as close to the original as possible, is due to start later this year after the structure has been fully secured. It is due to reopen at least partially in time for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
