Experts Unearthed A Strange Sarcophagus Beneath Notre-Dame That Is Casting A New Light On History

It didn’t take long for plans to be drawn up for the repair works. Within days of the inferno, French president Emmanuel Macron had promised his people that Notre-Dame would be restored within five years. It was a challenging target to set out, but it was a testament to how much the cathedral meant to the French.

The restoration works duly got under way, but then 2020 happened. The lockdowns obviously interfered with the project, with works unable to take place as planned. And later, even when restrictions were eased, another delay emerged. The construction workers found something unexpected on the site — and the discovery brought everything to a halt.

The laborers were setting up some scaffolding to afford them access while reconstructing a spire that had collapsed in the fire. But as they were doing that, they spotted something odd hidden beneath the ground. Whatever it was down there, they knew it was important, so they called in expert help.

A group of archaeologists from the Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) were summoned to Notre-Dame, where they got to work investigating what the workers had uncovered. And sure enough, these experts quickly confirmed the workers’ inkling that this was an important find. The world-famous Notre-Dame, it became clear, had its secrets.

The fact we’re now learning more about Notre-Dame’s long history is pretty lucky, considering the drama of that fateful day in 2019. You might recall watching events unfold on TV, as it wasn’t just the French paying attention to the inferno. People all over the world were glued to the footage coming from Paris.

The day had started out like any other. A bunch of people were inside Notre-Dame, admiring its incredible grandeur and Gothic style. A priest was speaking, and everything had seemed entirely normal. But then, out of nowhere, an alarm sounded — and a grim chapter in the history of this place began to unfold.

The alarm went off at 6:20 p.m., alerting everyone inside that something was amiss. People were understandably caught off-guard, and they didn’t seem to know what to do. Johann Vexo, who was there that day, described the scene for AP News. He said, “Everyone was immobilized by shock for maybe a minute.”

But even though people were taken aback by the blaring alarm, nobody lost their heads. The exit doors swung open and people calmly evacuated. The place was cleared within a matter of minutes, which really was the important thing. Nobody would be caught up in the inferno that was about to engulf the building.

In those initial 23 minutes since the alarm had sounded, people could have been forgiven for thinking it was just a drill. There was no sign that anything was genuinely amiss. But by 6:43 p.m. it started to become clear just how serious this situation was. Another alarm sounded, and flames became visible.

The fire brigade was alerted to the situation, and a fleet of trucks was sent rushing to the scene. The city filled with the sound of sirens, but the gravity of what was happening still wasn’t quite clear. Notre-Dame was in a little trouble, sure, but nobody expected the fire to intensify in such a genuinely disastrous way.

But as the minutes ticked by, the fire visibly intensified. Over at City Hall, the mayor of Paris was looking out in the direction of Notre-Dame, which sits on an island in the middle of the River Seine. She decided she had to get to the scene. Anne Hidalgo later recalled to AP News, “I came here and felt powerless as the flames overtook the cathedral.”

Reporting for AP News on April 17, 2019, journalist Lori Hinnant eloquently described what the situation was like. She wrote, “Fueled by a lattice of centuries-old timbers, the fire moved hungrily across Notre-Dame’s rooftop toward the cathedral’s iconic spire. It belched yellow smoke, spitting out gritty particles of wood, stone, lead and iron and wanted more.”

The people of Paris, meanwhile, became aware of what was happening to Notre-Dame. One by one, hundreds trickled outside and took up a spot along the Seine, looking helplessly on. Reports from that day recall how people broke down in tears as they watched huge sections of their famous landmark turn to ash.

Notre-Dame is a treasure in and of itself, but it’s also always been full of priceless artifacts and works of art. The firefighters knew that perfectly well, so they endeavored to save as much as possible. They worked through the smoke and flame, attempting to pull out all they could before it was too late.

One specific storage unit at the heart of Notre-Dame was of particular concern for the firefighters. They worked hard to locate and crack this thing open, enabling them to save the treasures within. And thanks to their remarkable efforts, they managed to get the Crown of Thorns out. This much-venerated artifact which had purportedly sat on Christ’s head was once the property of King Louis IX.

The fire brigade received lots of plaudits for saving the crown. It wasn’t an easy task, though, given all the security measures in place to protect it in normal times. Senior firefighter Jean-Marc Fournier spoke to the KTO network about that. He said, “The difficulty for us was to find the person holding the security codes to open the safe where the holy relic [was] kept.”

But saving the Crown of Thorns was, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more inside Notre-Dame that needed to be retrieved before it was lost forever — and the situation was deteriorating. The cathedral was in a state of collapse, with falling debris threatening to smash into all the artworks.

By 7:49 p.m. the unthinkable had happened. A spire, built hundred of years ago and considered an architectural marvel, collapsed. It tumbled down to the ground, smashing into a bunch of artifacts situated beneath it. According to AP, a trio of relics which had been held at Notre-Dame since 1935 were destroyed.

Outside, the scene was chaotic. The sky was lit by flame, as firefighters flooded into the area wearing their protective gear. Some tried desperately to access the higher parts of the cathedral. That can’t have been easy, given that Notre-Dame’s twin towers boasted hundreds and hundreds of tight, winding steps. But they persevered, all the same.

Firefighter Myriam Chudzinski was part of that effort. She recalled the situation to AP, saying, “We knew that the roof was burning, but we didn’t really know the intensity. It was from upstairs that you understood that it was really dramatic. It was very hot and we had to retreat, retreat. It was spreading quickly.”

In the midst of the chaos, Chudzinski and her colleagues heard a huge cacophony, but they didn’t realize what it was. It was only later that they figured it out: it was the sound of the spire crashing to the ground. Maybe it’s best they didn’t know that’d happened while they were still dealing with the flames?

The firefighters couldn’t deal with the situation all on their own, so help was dispatched. This came in the form of a robot, which was operated remotely. That meant they could send the thing into the inferno without putting lives at risk. And eventually, thanks to immense efforts of the firefighters and their high-tech aid, the fire was put out. The damage was immense, but not total.

Despite the horrendous damage, the political class were quick to begin making promises. President Macron pretty much immediately committed to having Notre-Dame repaired and open again by 2024: a date just five years distant. That’s set to be a special year for the French, as the Olympics will be taking place in Paris that summer.

Works got under way on Notre-Dame very swiftly, but the first couple of years of the project basically consisted of sorting through the rubble. The site, after all, was a total mess. It wasn’t possible to turn to reconstruction right away, not when the place was in as bad a state as it was.

And to make matters worse, the restoration project ran into a lot of trouble beyond anyone’s control. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a huge spanner in the works, with lockdowns putting stress on the schedule. But by 2021 building works were finally commencing — and that’s what led to a remarkable set of discoveries hidden beneath the cathedral.

Workers on the site were putting up some scaffolding, when something caught their eye. Beneath the surface, a sort of box could be seen. It was a weird shape and made of lead, and instinctively they knew it was important. They alerted the Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, which duly sent some archaeologists to the scene to get to the bottom of the mystery.

So, what exactly was this weird lead box the workers had spotted? Well, as the archaeologists investigated the underground section of Notre-Dame where it had been found, they came to realize something: they were exploring a hidden network of subterranean tombs. This box, then, was a sarcophagus — and it wasn’t empty.

The outside of the sarcophagus had split a little, which actually proved useful for the archaeologists. This way, they were able to slip a tiny camera through the fracture so they could see inside. And what lay within was a remarkably preserved human body.

Who was this person, and why had they been preserved in this elaborate manner? Well, that wasn’t totally clear right away, but the experts could make an educated guess. Notre-Dame, after all, was known to house the graves of hundreds of high-ranking clergymen. This person, then, was likely a bishop or archbishop of some sort.

Christophe Besnier was the archaeologist heading the excavation, and he spoke to AFP about the discovery. He remarked, “You can glimpse pieces of fabric, hair, and a pillow of leaves on top of the head, a well-known phenomenon when religious leaders were buried. The fact that these plant elements are still inside means the body is in a very good state of conservation.”

President of INRAP Dominque Garcia spoke to the press about the find, stating that DNA testing would soon take place to learn more about the body inside the sarcophagus. As reported by British newspaper The Guardian, though, Dr. Garcia acknowledged this was no ordinary investigation. He said, “A sarcophagus containing a human body is not an archaeological object. These are human remains, and while examining the sarcophagus and analyzing the body and other objects inside, we must do so with respect.”

The sarcophagus and the body it held were far from the only discoveries made during this excavation. Aside from them, broken pieces of an architectural feature known as a rood screen were recovered. A rood screen acts as a sort of partition inside a church, separating the space where the altar is from the middle of the building.

Other fragments of this specific rood screen had previously been discovered a couple of hundred years ago, during renovation works at Notre-Dame. Some of these pieces had been held inside the cathedral following their discovery, while others were sent away. Nowadays, the surviving fragments can be seen at the Louvre Museum.

Besides the sarcophagus, the honor of the most eye-catching discovery made during this excavation possibly goes to a sculpted head. This object, which was made of stone, was in really good condition when it was brought to the surface. It’s been suggested that it was meant to depict Jesus Christ.

None of these finds were anticipated, not even by experts in the know. As Besnier explained to the press, “We uncovered all these riches just 10 to 15 centimeters under the floor slabs. It was completely unexpected. There were exceptional pieces documenting the history of the monument.”

Besnier went on to elaborate on how this discovery affected him as a human being. He told The Guardian, “It was an emotional moment. Suddenly we had several hundred pieces from small fragments to large blocks including sculpted hands, feet, faces, architectural decorations, and plants. Some of the pieces were still colored.”

The archaeologists also came across a subterranean pit beneath Notre-Dame’s floor which may date as far back as the year 1230. Besides the pit, the experts also came across a series of pipes. These, by contrast, had likely been laid down at some point during the 19th century.

The discoveries that emerged from this excavation are incredibly exciting for the archaeological community, and they suggest Notre-Dame holds plenty more secrets to share. The issue, though, is that the repair works are tied to a tight schedule. That means the experts need to work as quickly as possible, despite the risks that potential finds might be missed.

But the discoveries already made have proved really valuable to anyone with an interest in the history of Notre-Dame and Paris. Studies will take place on the sarcophagus and its body within, and who knows what the results might reveal? Whatever revelations come to light may, in some way, be seen as a silver lining despite the heinous losses inflicted by that disastrous inferno.