OUR LADY REBORN: Evacuating and Storing the Treasures of Notre-Dame
- Company News
The fire that tore through Notre-Dame de Paris in April 2019 gripped the attention of millions worldwide – an emblem of France, its consumption by flame and smoke was perhaps the greatest shock to the French people in recent times. Greater still, however was the patriotic spirit that arose from the ashes, and a determination to preserve its treasures for future generations. Involved in this monumental effort were ICEFAT members Bovis Fine Art and Andre Chenue, who collaboratively rescued the cathedral’s many artworks from the rubble and stored them for restoration. With their mutual understanding of heritage preservation and a shared determination to restore Notre-Dame to its former glory, these stalwarts of the art logistics industry were instrumental in saving the cathedral’s many masterpieces, which now hang once again in their sacred home.
Before the Fire
Prior to the rescue efforts on the Île Notre-Dame in 2019, the teams at Bovis Fine Art and Andre Chenue were already experienced in the preservation of cultural heritage, both having longstanding relationships with the Musée du Louvre. With expertise in handling large-scale sculpture, Bovis Fine Art moved the Bulls of Khorsabad in 1989 during the construction of the Grand Louvre and transferred The Victory of Samothrace for restoration in 2015. Andre Chenue, meanwhile, evacuated the Louvre’s exhibits ahead of both world wars, and thereafter moved 300,000 artworks from the museum’s collection to a storage facility north of Paris during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the risk of future flood damage to the museum’s subterranean floors.
A nineteenth-century photograph of a Chenue horse-and-cart outside the Musée du Louvre. Source: Andre Chenue.
A Chenue truck parked outside Notre-Dame de Paris after the fire in 2019. Source: Andre Chenue.
Through projects such as these, Bovis Fine Art and Andre Chenue have gained the trust of the French Ministry of Culture, making these Paris-based ICEFAT members the natural consultees in times of emergency. Once the flames that engulfed Notre-Dame were extinguished, both companies were asked to join the cultural rescue efforts, and promptly arrived at the scene to begin their hazardous and gargantuan task.
After the Fire
In less than twenty-four hours from the initial call, Bovis Fine Art and Andre Chenue mobilised a dedicated task force to prevent the catastrophic loss of Notre Dame’s masterpieces to smoke, debris, or exposure to the elements. Andre Chenue alone provided 21 handlers, and six freight vehicles, and Bovis Fine Art supplemented its fleet with a truck driven from Spain by fellow-ICEFAT agent TTI. Each company also brought with them vast amounts of protective apparatus, as although speed was fundamental to lessen the risk of damage to the artworks inside the cathedral, it was imperative that all handlers were properly equipped for their personal safety; every person onsite was also provided with regular blood tests to monitor their inhalation of lead, as to prevent health issues further down the line. Once these precautions were in place, the team at Bovis Fine Art was entrusted with the challenging task of detaching the large-scale, seventeenth-century Mays series; this required the installation of scaffolding in each lateral chapel, allowing access to the endangered paintings, which were individually cocooned in reinforced soft-packing to shield them during their removal from the cathedral, which was structurally unsound.
The team at Bovis Fine Art removing a painting from the damaged structure of Notre-Dame de Paris. Source: Bovis Fine Art.
All artworks were then carefully transported to secure warehouses where they could be safely stored for inspection and restoration; within a mere six weeks, Bovis Fine Art orchestrated the construction of a 2,000 square-metre storage complex with the most extensive metal gride racking system in Europe, which required over 10 tonnes of stainless steel. Innovation was essential at every stage of the process – six months down the line, Andre Chenue was called by the Ministry of Culture once again to remove the celebrated stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris for restoration, and to protect them from shattering while architectural renovations occurred. This operation required the creation of a special crating system, into which individual glass panels could be slotted and secured for transportation to a number of artisan workshops across Paris and beyond.
The innovative crating system used by Andre Chenue to safely transport the stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris. Source: Andre Chenue.
Beyond the Fire
With the cathedral having now re-opened its doors to beguile a new generation, the significance of the operation that returned it to its former magnificence will not be forgotten. The gratitude of the French state was demonstrated in 2022 when Rima Abdul Malak, the Minister of Culture, visited the Bovis Fine Art facility and saw the many masterpieces that had been saved from Notre-Dame de Paris; these same masterpieces now hang once again in their chapels of origin, having been reinstalled by the Bovis team, each bearing testament to the valour of the ICEFAT agents that collaborated in dire circumstances to protect them. The restored cathedral symbolises not a new era in architectural history, but also the willpower of those that sought to protect its many sacred treasures.
The Bovis team re-installing a sculpture of the Madonna and Child at Notre-Dame de Paris. ©Drac Île-de-France / Nicolas Thouvenin.
The Bovis team inside the restored cathedral. ©Drac Île-de-France / Nicolas Thouvenin.
