France’s Paradoxes, Embodied in a Cathedral
France is a secular republic, dedicated to the principle of <em>laïcité</em>, or the absence of religion in public life. But it has as its national symbol the Notre-Dame cathedral.
PARIS—It was the morning after the fire ravaged Notre-Dame, consuming its oak latticework and lead roof, damaging rose windows, toppling its spire. There was a low, gray sky and it was still unseasonably cold. People had gathered again along the riverbanks facing the cathedral, trying to get a closer look at what remained.
What did remain? I walked closer. The facade and two boxy towers held their sturdy place on the horizon, as they had for eight centuries. So did the walls
