The 'psychedelic' colors of Notre Dame de Paris

[stellarfun]

Short video update in French. Even the restorers seem a bit taken aback at the brightness of the palette used by the builders of seven centuries ago, circa early 1300s.

I hope, and really expect, that they are making video tutorials of the techniques used by the many artisans at work on-site, or in their shops and factories as they go about restoring and reproducing.

 

[Arlington]

Yes, most people don't realize that most cathedrals were brightly painted -- because the paint didn't last but they can still find small quantities of paint flakes that tell them it was all pretty "harlequin" on every surface.

At the Abbey St Foy in Conques there's still a hint of the original medieval color:

 

[393b40]

Yes, most people don't realize that most cathedrals were brightly painted -- because the paint didn't last but they can still find small quantities of paint flakes that tell them it was all pretty "harlequin" on every surface.

Same with most Roman and Greek statues.

 

[bbfen]

This has been making me nuts for days. I recall reading about the painted west facade of many cathedrals. I can’t find the actual article, but the Wiki for Amiens talks briefly about the annual festival that they host with some proprietarytech to make it appear what they it actually looked it. It’ll be curious to see what they do in Paris.

BTW, PBS’s YouTube channel recently posted a long doc on the restoration and rebuilding on the free channel, maybe three weeks ago. Fascinating.

Amiens Cathedral - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

edit: clarity