Building cathedrals is one of the most profound gestures that human beings have ever conceived. Every stone, every arch, every rose window is not just a work of genius: it is a thought, a philosophical act, a mark left in time to defy oblivion. Of all of them, Notre-Dame de Paris is perhaps the most powerful embodiment of this gesture. Not because it is the most majestic or the oldest, but because it has managed to condense within itself the entire experience of Europe: faith, revolution, destruction and reconstruction.

The imminent inauguration of the renovations after the devastating fire of 2019 is just the latest chapter in a story that does not belong to an era, but to an idea. Notre-Dame is not a building, it is a metaphor for civilisation.

Building not to disappear

When the foundation stone of the cathedral was laid in 1163, the builders knew they would never see the finished work. Perhaps their children, or their children’s children, would contemplate it. This awareness – building for a future that does not belong to us – is at the heart of the human project. The Gothic cathedral was born to bear witness to man’s presence in the world, to challenge his finiteness.

It is not just a religious gesture, it is an act of resistance. At a time when life was short and precarious, to erect Notre-Dame was to affirm that something would remain, that the ephemeral could be transformed into the eternal.

A symbol that transcends the sacred

Notre-Dame, although born as a Christian cathedral, has always transcended the boundaries of the sacred. Its beauty is universal, its function has changed over the centuries. From a temple of faith to a refuge for the outcasts narrated by Victor Hugo, from the scene of revolutions to a secular symbol of European culture, Notre-Dame has embraced everything without ever losing its essence.

Each stone brings with it the contradictions of man: the desire to rise and the weight of the fall. The gargoyles watching from above are not there to protect: they are a warning, a representation of our shadow that accompanies every attempt to rise.

Destroy and rebuild

The 2019 fire was not the first blow to the cathedral. Notre-Dame has been through wars, looting, revolutions. Yet, each time it has been reborn. This cycle of destruction and reconstruction is not just the history of a building, but the history of man. We destroy, sometimes by mistake, sometimes by necessity, but we always rebuild, because rebuilding is our way of making sense of fragility.

The fire revealed something profound: Notre-Dame does not only belong to Paris, nor to France, but to the whole world. The donations that arrived from every corner of the planet were not just an act of solidarity, but a confirmation that this cathedral represents a universal heritage, a meeting point for what unites us as human beings.

A timeless cathedral

Notre-Dame is a work that knows no time. Not because it is eternal, but because it encapsulates the past, the present and the future. Each restoration, each modification, each reconstructed spire is not a simple replica of the original, but a dialogue between epochs. It is an attempt to make visible our presence in time, to say that we have been here, that we have imagined something greater than ourselves.

This cathedral, like all great works of humanity, speaks not only of faith, but of a broader trust: the trust that future generations will be able to understand, preserve, add to. Notre-Dame teaches us that building cathedrals is not an act of the past, but a necessity of the present. It is a political, philosophical, existential act: a bridge between the ephemerality of life and the eternity of thought.

Each time it is reborn, Notre Dame reminds us that the essence of man is not in destroying, but in building. Perhaps this is its most profound message: we are nothing but our cathedrals.