Before the Revolution
The Chapter, a college of canons responsible for the worship services, traditionally managed the Treasury of Notre-Dame. The earliest inventories date back to 1343 and 1416. Times of prosperity and crisis alternated, leading to the melting down or selling of some items. Nevertheless, the treasury remained one of the most significant in France until the 1789 Revolution, which completely destroyed it. None of the original treasury items survived.
Reconstructing the Treasury
In 1804, the return of several Holy Relics of the Passion to Notre-Dame, previously kept at the Sainte-Chapelle, marked the beginning of the treasury’s reconstruction. The Chapter’s commissions and donations, often from illustrious figures or clergy, enriched it. Although ravaged during the 1830 riots and the sack of the archbishop’s palace in 1831, the treasury experienced a resurgence with the restoration of the cathedral and the reconstruction of the sacristy by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc starting in 1849. He endeavored to create a coherent neo-Gothic style for the architecture, furnishings, and goldsmithing.
In 2012, the Treasury received a new museography for the cathedral’s 850th anniversary, respecting the framework and furnishings envisioned by its 19th-century creators. Following the 2019 fire, the scenography was again reimagined for the reopening.
Everything contributes to making the meaning, function, and artistic value of the displayed items understandable to the public, respecting Viollet-le-Duc’s arrangements:
- Selection of exhibited works
- Signage
- Development and explanation of the treasury’s sacred dimension
- Furnishings
- Extension of the visit route
- Lighting
The Treasury Preserves Religious Objects
In France, over two hundred fifty churches offer a treasury for visitors. The criteria for attributing objects to a treasury have varied little over the centuries, even though the reasons for their preservation have evolved. It is primarily about preserving precious religious objects and their sacred character.
Any object in contact with the body of Christ, in the form of the host and consecrated wine, is considered sacred. Until recently, such objects were made of or covered with precious materials. This category includes chalices for the precious blood, ciboria for consecrated hosts, pyxes for transporting hosts, and monstrances for displaying the host for adoration.
Many other objects are used in the celebration of Mass: cruets and their tray, ewer and basin, or in administering sacraments: chrismaria (or chrism vials) containing Holy Chrism for baptism and ordinations, and oil for the sacrament of the sick, made of precious metals and intricately designed.
The Treasuries also contain bishops’ attributes: mitres, croziers, rings, processional crosses, and numerous crucifixes. Liturgical garments: albs, chasubles, dalmatics, copes, stoles, and old illuminated books do not fare well when exposed to light and require great care.
In addition to objects used in worship, and more numerous than these, there are reliquaries. In various forms: crosses, chasses, medallions, monstrances, pyxes, statuettes, busts, etc., they contain the remains of saints honored with particular devotion by the Church. Notre-Dame de Paris holds relics of many saints, but most notably the Very Holy Relics of the Passion of Christ, acquired by Saint Louis and kept at the Sainte-Chapelle until the Revolution.
A Reserve of Precious Objects
The value of these objects lies first in the rarity of the materials used: gold, vermeil, precious stones. It also resides in the skill of the artists and craftsmen who created them.
Since its construction, Notre-Dame has received many sumptuous gifts from monarchs and nobles, demonstrating their attachment to the Church and patronage. Their value can also lie in the historical circumstances of their creation:
- Souvenirs from the visit of a Sovereign Pontiff, such as the chasuble worn by John Paul II during the World Youth Days in 1997
- In more tragic terms, objects used by the three archbishops of Paris who died violent deaths in the 19th century
A Monetary Reserve for Times of Crisis
Until the Revolution, the Treasury was considered a potential reserve of money for times of crisis: epidemics, famines, foreign and civil wars. At the king’s request or on its own initiative, the Chapter of Notre-Dame sent precious objects to be melted down into currency. Thus, the following disappeared:
- The vermeil reliquary of Saint Simeon and Saint Andrew offered by Philip Augustus
- The statue of Saint Denis adorned with sapphires and pearls bearing the arms of Isabeau of Bavaria, sold as early as 1429
- The golden bust of Saint Agnes adorned with a rich sapphire surrounded by eight precious stones and holding a golden branch
During the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War and the Wars of Religion, further sales and meltings occurred in 1562 and 1577. The gold reliquary of Saint Philip’s head, covered in precious stones, offered by the Duke of Berry in 1414, was melted down in 1562.
In the mid-18th century, in 1759, during the Seven Years’ War, Louis XV requested that the following be sent to the Mint for melting:
- Ten silver candlesticks, including four offered by the last Bishop of Paris, Henri de Gondi, in 1607 (Paris was elevated to an archdiocese at his death)
- Six vermeil candlesticks donated by Cardinal de Noailles
- A large holy water font
- A lampstand
- A significant 17th-century chapel
- A large silver lamp given by Anne of Austria in 1636
The Revolution, after nationalizing Church property (November 2, 1789), ordered the confiscation and melting of unnecessary liturgical objects (March 3, 1791), followed by liturgical objects themselves (September 10, 1792). The Treasury was entirely lost. Objects from before this period now in the Treasury were acquired later. None originate from Notre-Dame. After the Concordat, Napoleon notably recreated the Treasury with gifts. The Restoration, with the close alliance of the throne and the altar, brought significant enrichments. The riots of 1830 and 1831 led to numerous losses.
Since the 1905 Law of Separation of Church and State, the latter owns objects acquired before the inventories.
Enriching the Treasury
Objects have most often entered the Treasury as donations. Under the Ancien Régime, all kings and many family members made gifts to Notre-Dame.
In 1789, the Treasury still held the golden altarpiece, known as Saint Sebastian, offered by the Duke of Berry in 1406. Until the 19th century, sovereigns commissioned renowned artisans for significant events of their reign:
- Te Deum following a victory (monstrance known as that of Louis XVIII)
- Princely baptism (ornaments offered by Napoleon III in 1856 on the occasion of the baptism of the Imperial Prince)
- Marriage or coronation (significant gifts from Napoleon in 1804)
Several popes, friends of the Church of Paris, also enriched the Treasury (chalices from Leo XIII, John XXIII). Visiting sovereigns did the same (Cross offered by the Emperor of Ethiopia). Prelates and canons bequeath to the Treasury the chalices, ciboria, and chapels offered by their families or faithful during their ministry.
The Cathedral’s Successive Sacristies
The location of the Treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris has varied little over the centuries. It has always been housed in a building perpendicular to the cathedral, near the chapels of the south ambulatory. The old constructions also contained sacristy rooms for the church’s servers.
In the 18th century, these annex buildings were in ruins. Architect Soufflot (1714-1781) designed new sacristy plans and laid the first stone on August 12, 1755. This large sacristy, attempting to mix Greek and Gothic styles, did not harmonize well with the cathedral. At the back, a double staircase led to a vaulted spherical room containing the chasses and relics. The upper floor housed the ornaments. Unfortunately, the ravages from the July 1830 and February 1831 riots led to the abandonment of the restoration.
Viollet-le-Duc and the Treasury
Between 1845 and 1850, Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc reconstructed the sacristy around a small square cloister. The part closest to the transept served for worship, while the other part housed the Treasury. Several artists contributed to the work:
- The cloister’s stained glass windows, made by Gérente, depict the life of Saint Genevieve
- The Treasury room’s stained glass windows, by Maréchal of Metz, represent the bishops and archbishops of Paris
- The arrangement, furniture, and stained glass of the Treasury were directed by Viollet-le-Duc
- Sauvage and Milon carried out the masonry
- Lechesne handled the ornamental sculpture
- Boulanger worked on the ironwork
- Mirgon managed the furniture
Inspired by 13th-century religious art, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his predecessor Lassus created the new sacristy between 1845 and 1850.
Viollet-le-Duc endeavored to recreate a whole medieval-style goldsmithing. Beyond adapting medieval forms, he also
