Cathedrals, emphasizes Ken Follett (Cardiff, 74 years old), tell many things. That of Notre Dame, an icon of European culture, even more so. Not only because of the historical context in which it was built, but also because of its impressive restoration after the devastating fire in 2019. The British writer did not want to miss the reopening ceremony of the Parisian monument this Saturday. Maybe it will give you ideas for a next book. From the French capital, remember the collective effort that went into the construction of these imposing buildings. Like creating a movie or launching a rocket to the Moon. “Hundreds of people do it,” he emphasizes in an interview with EL PAÍS before the reopening. “The other way in which a moonshot and a cathedral are similar is that they are both cutting-edge technology,” he adds.
The British author’s passion for these temples inspired his most famous novel, The pillars of the earthwith nearly 200 million copies sold. The plot, set in the 12th century, revolves precisely around the construction of a fictitious medieval cathedral. To write it, he studied everything he could about these Gothic buildings. Their structure, the way they were built, their use and even their place in the collective imagination. “In the Middle Ages, a cathedral was like a meeting house. People came to receive good services. The city made money because pilgrims came and bought beer, for example. They also had to sleep somewhere and bought souvenirs. Just like tourists today,” explains the writer.
A few meters from the interview stands Notre Dame. The police install metal fences that will serve to delimit the security space. Tourists, numerous, stop to admire the cathedral from one of the Seine bridges and take one last photo before its reopening. Nearly 40 heads of State and Government have traveled to Paris to attend the ceremony, in addition to figures from other areas of society and culture such as Follett. Like a good novelist, imagine the moment. “I like the idea of having the President of the Republic outside, giving the speech, and then having to knock on the door. I think that’s what will happen. He will knock on the door, and the doors will open for him to enter. And we’ll all come in after him, I hope. That would be good in a book. It would be a great dramatic scene. So yeah, I might steal it!”
Cathedrals, he points out, have always had a political aspect. “In the medieval period there were tensions between the Church and the King, in France and England. Because they were both very rich and very powerful. The King had a palace, but the bishop had a cathedral. Furthermore, the only ones who could limit the power of the King were the priests. Nobody else. The bishops or abbots could say no, which sometimes generated conflicts,” he details. In December 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French at Notre Dame. More than a century later, during the liberation of Paris in August 1944, General Charles de Gaulle went to the cathedral along with other resistance leaders to attend a God bless you. The chronicles of the time describe a shooting that targeted him, but was finally appeased by the security forces.
French President Emmanuel Macron has made the reconstruction of Notre Dame his great work. But its reopening occurs in the midst of a political crisis, after the fall of the Government in a motion of censure. On the day of the fire, April 15, 2019, the president appeared at the scene and promised to rebuild it in just five years. Follett followed the news on television. “I think I thought that if it was completely destroyed it would be the end,” recalls the Welsh writer. “The end of something that has lasted for 800 years. About something that we thought was eternal,” he delves.
After the catastrophe, Follett wrote Our Lady (Plaza & Janés, 2019), a book that collects the history and importance of the cathedral. The copyright has been donated to the Fondation du Patrimoine, an organization that works to safeguard local heritage. In the work, the author dedicates a part to the collective effort involved in the construction of the cathedrals. “It’s like a movie. A single person never does it, and so do cathedrals,” he points out. He also compares it to launching a rocket to the Moon, which has hundreds of people behind it. Both, he emphasizes, are also “cutting edge technology.” “The Masons were doing new things, inventing new ways of building that had never been done before, so it was really high technology. The cathedrals are high tech“, series.
Remember that builders were nomadic workers who traveled from city to city across the continent in search of work. In this way, technical and stylistic innovations were spread, such as the change from semicircular arches to pointed arches. Women also participated, writes Follett, citing the work of the French historian Jean Gimpel, who for his work Cathedral builders (The cathedral buildersin Spanish) consulted the tax register of the municipality of Paris from the 13th century and found many names of women on the list of artisans who paid taxes.
The author is impressed by the fact that such feats were built when there was still a lack of mathematical knowledge to calculate the tension state of such structures. “They always did it randomly. Some cathedrals fell, of course. Beauvais fell twice, so they made a lot of mistakes, but most of the time they got it right. It’s amazing how many times they got it right,” he says.
But he is also excited to think that when you enter a cathedral, sit down, listen to the music or simply contemplate the architecture, you do it just as many others did over 800 years. “It’s like a continuity in the human race,” he reflects. And he adds: “It is important to stop. Even if you love your job. It is important to stay still and do nothing. Not even watching television or listening to music. “It’s actually meditation.”
—And can cathedrals help?
-Absolutely. It’s the perfect place.