Walking briskly over the Pont Neuf towards the Louvre, as night fell over Paris, I began to see other people hurrying in the same direction, some holding long white candles. “Quick!” said a young woman to her children, “We’re going to miss her!”
Word had spread a few days earlier that the 14th-century Virgin and Child would be coming home that evening. For five years, since the fire of April 15 2019 almost destroyed Notre-Dame, this masterpiece of late Gothic sculpture found shelter at the medieval church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, opposite the Louvre. Now she would be the first to return to take up her place in the cathedral. And many of us Parisians, Catholic or not, had chosen to accompany her on this short journey, crossing the Seine towards the Île de la Cité.
In fact, the 6ft-tall statue being carried through the streets of Paris was a replica — the real Madonna was making her way home in an armoured vehicle. Since 1818, the year she was gifted to Notre-Dame, the tilt of her hip has made her stand out among the three dozen Virgin Marys represented in the cathedral. She stood by the south-east pillar at the crossing of the transept where, on the night of the fire, the spire collapsed on to the vaults just above her. Pictures taken the next day show tons of debris at her feet — and yet she was left untouched.