Five years after massive fire burns Notre Dame, artifacts hidden beneath revealed

For just a few moments on April 15, 2019, the world stood still.

People across the globe watched as massive flames erupted from the roof of Notre Dame, the famed and ancient cathedral in Paris, France.

At the time, it may have been hard to imagine a silver lining to the partial destruction of an international landmark. But five years later, as officials prepare for the grand reopening of the cathedral, archaeologists have shared good news.

In the days and months after the fire was extinguished, archaeologists with the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) were tasked with completing preventative archaeology that would preserve as much of the original structure and artifacts inside as possible, officials said in a Sept. 17 news conference and news release from INRAP.

In doing so, more than 50 archaeologists across 14 projects made significant discoveries.

Excavations were conducted both inside and around the cathedral, officials said, and geophysical prospecting was conducted predominantly inside the structure.

In the heart of the cathedral, archaeologists discovered the floor from a dwelling built at the beginning of the first century about 11.5 feet below the surface, according to the release.

In part of the Notre Dame called the forecourt, excavations revealed burnt floors and wood of housing and crafts from the Late Roman Empire, from the years 250 to 450, officials said.

They found more evidence from before the cathedral was ever built, according to INRAP. Archaeologists identified a large Carolingian building and other monumental buildings from the Middle Ages before the stones of the worship space.

The Carolingians were a family of aristocrats , including Charlemange, who ruled western Europe from 750 to 887, according to Britannica.

Exposing this part of the structure also revealed the foundations of the cathedral for the first time, including a foundational block that supports the large towers and the foundations of pillars that will help architects better understand how the cathedral was originally constructed, INRAP said.

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In another part of Notre Dame, archaeologists uncovered pieces of the rood screen that had originally been built around 1230 but was then destroyed at the beginning of the 18th century, officials said.

A rood screen was a part of the church that separated the choir or chancel (where the altar sits) from the rest of the nave often seen in medieval churches, according to Britannica. Many rood screens were elaborately carved and depicted figures from the Christian faith.

Since its destruction, only 15 fragments of the screen had been recovered, archaeologists said. But in the restoration and protection after the fire, more than 1,000 pieces of sculptures from the screen have been found, including 700 pieces that still bear their paint or gold leaf.

The sculptures depict religious figures as well as plants, faces, hair and draperies, with a style attributed to the 13th century, officials said.

These pieces are some of the only parts of Notre Dame that retain their original painted decoration, archaeologists said, making their discovery exceptional.

The pieces were at risk after being exposed to the elements and humidity for the first time in centuries, and archaeologists worked to preserve the color while cleaning the pieces. The screen restoration will continue into 2025, INRAP said.

Notre Dame, like other Catholic religious buildings, is known for the burials inside the cathedral’s walls as opposed to underground next to the building.

During the restorations, archaeologists discovered more than 100 graves in the basement of the cathedral, and 80 were excavated, INRAP said.

Some people were buried in traditional wood coffins while others were put in stone tanks or pits, officials said. The individuals were buried in shrouds with some aspects of the fabric and copper pins used to hold them together still remaining.

More than half of the graves face west, meaning they belong to lay people, according to the church, and the rest are oriented east, meaning they face the faithful and are members of clergy.

Of all the human remains, all but one was male and most showed signs of aging like osteoarthritis and other bone conditions, suggesting the remains belong to religious and lay people of high status within the Catholic community, according to the release.

During excavations in 2022, archaeologists discovered two sarcophagi at the crossing of the transept, INRAP said.

One was quickly identified as Canon Antoine de La Porte because it was written on the epitaph, but the other individual’s identity has yet to be confirmed, University of Toulouse professor Eric Crubézy said.

The professor said the remains belonged to a man in his 40s who died of tuberculosis-caused meningitis in the 1500s, and he was autopsied and embalmed, according to the release.

Researchers believe the sarcophagus might hold the lost remains of Joachim du Bellay, a horseman and poet who died in 1560 who was supposed to be buried by his uncle but was not found there during a 1758 record of burials, Crubézy said.

It is possible the poet was put in a temporary burial and then never moved, or that the remains belong to someone else entirely and the church records are inaccurate.

The Archbishop of Paris Mgr. Laurent Ulrich wrote in an open letter in February that the reopening of Notre Dame would begin Dec. 8 and continue until June of next year , ABC reported. A procession will be held in the streets of Paris two weeks before the official opening in December, and the statue of Notre Dame will be placed back onto the cathedral, Ulrich said.

Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research.

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