Napoleon in Arras: how did the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral disappear?

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Arras lost one of its greatest monuments: the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece that had dominated the town for centuries. Closed then sold during the Revolution, it was demolished at the turn of the century, disappearing forever from the Arras landscape. It is in this context that Napoleon, then First Consul and later Emperor, passed through Arras in 1804, at a time when the town was reorganising after the revolutionary turmoil. A look back at the disappearance of this cathedral and at this pivotal period of the history of Arras, between the end of a world and the advent of a new order.

Arras under the Consulate and the Empire

After the upheavals of the Revolution, Arras entered, like all of France, a period of reorganisation and stabilisation. The Consulate then the Empire, under the authority of Napoleon Bonaparte, put an end to revolutionary instability and instituted a new order, marked by centralisation and the reconstruction of institutions. Arras, become capital of the Pas-de-Calais, saw the prefecture and the Napoleonic administration put in place, confirming its role as departmental capital. The town, which had known the dark hours of the Terror, gradually recovered a normal functioning, within the framework of the consular then imperial regime. This period was that of a putting back in order, after the years of trouble and rupture. The institutions stabilised, the administration structured itself, and life resumed its course in a new framework. It is in this context of reorganisation that the fate of the religious heritage of the town, deeply affected by the Revolution, was played out. The churches and monasteries, closed, sold or destroyed during the revolutionary years, knew diverse destinies, between disappearance and reallocation. The Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral, jewel of religious Arras, was to be one of the great victims of this period. To understand the context of the Consulate and the Empire is essential to grasp what then became of the Arras heritage. This period of transition, between the Revolution and the return to order, was decisive for the face of the town, which lost some of its most prestigious monuments while reorganising its religious and administrative life. Arras emerged transformed from these years, having turned the page of the Ancien Régime to enter the new world born of the Revolution and shaped by Napoleon.

The Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral

Before its disappearance, the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral was one of the most prestigious monuments of Arras. Situated in the Cité, the former episcopal quarter, it was the seat of the bishop and the religious heart of the town. A Gothic edifice of great scale, it testified to the wealth and fervour of medieval Arras, as the history of the Gothic cathedral of the Cité recalls. Its dimensions, its architecture and its decor made it a monument comparable to the great cathedrals of the North, a symbol of the power of the Church and the prestige of the episcopal city. For centuries, it had dominated the Cité and set the rhythm of the religious life of Arras, welcoming the ceremonies, the faithful and the chapter of the canons. It embodied the permanence of Christianity and of the episcopal institution, anchored in the most ancient history of the town. This cathedral was an integral part of the identity of Arras, alongside the other religious and civil monuments. Its presence structured the urban landscape of the Cité and recalled the central role of the Church in Ancien Régime society. The loss of this monument therefore represents a considerable amputation of the Arras heritage, the disappearance of a masterpiece that could have, had it survived, counted among the great Gothic monuments of the region. To evoke the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral is to remember what religious Arras was before the Revolution, and to measure the scale of what was lost. This vanished monument occupies a particular place in the memory of the town, that of a jewel that the people of Arras today can no longer admire, but whose memory remains attached to the history of the Cité.

The Revolution and the closure of the churches

The fate of the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral was sealed by the French Revolution and its policy towards the Church. During the revolutionary years, religious edifices knew considerable upheavals: nationalisation of the goods of the clergy, closure of the churches, suppression of the ecclesiastical institutions. The cathedral, like so many other edifices, was affected by these measures. Worship there was interrupted, the episcopal institution upheaved, and the monument, deprived of its function, found itself abandoned. The Revolution, in its will to break with the old order and the influence of the Church, did not spare the religious heritage, often considered a symbol of the Ancien Régime to be brought down. Numerous edifices were sold as national goods, reallocated to profane uses, degraded or destroyed. The Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral belonged to this movement, finding itself emptied of its function and delivered to an uncertain destiny. This period of the Revolution was fatal to many religious monuments, whose disappearance or degradation durably impoverished the French heritage. At Arras, the closure then the abandonment of the cathedral opened the way to its demolition. To understand the revolutionary policy towards the Church allows one to grasp how so prestigious a monument could be condemned. The cathedral was not destroyed by accident or by negligence, but a victim of a historical context that upheaved the relationship of society to religious heritage. The Revolution, in interrupting worship and nationalising the goods of the Church, prepared the ground for the disappearance of this masterpiece, whose end was soon to be consummated at the turn of the century, within the framework of the religious and urban reorganisation of the town.

The demolition of a Gothic masterpiece

Deprived of its function and sold as a national good, the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral was demolished at the turn of the nineteenth century. Its destruction, spread over several years, made this Gothic masterpiece disappear forever from the Arras landscape. The reasons for this demolition held at once to the revolutionary context, to the state of abandonment of the monument and to practical and financial considerations. An edifice of this scale, deprived of use and maintenance, represented a considerable burden, and its reallocation appeared difficult. The sale of the materials and the recovery of the land moreover constituted a source of profit in a context of financial needs. The demolition of such a monument, today hardly conceivable, was explained by the conjunction of these factors and by a sensitivity to heritage quite different from ours. At the time, the preservation of ancient monuments was not the preoccupation it has since become, and many edifices were sacrificed without measuring the loss they represented. The disappearance of the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral illustrates this period when the medieval heritage, sometimes scorned or neglected, was abandoned to destruction. This considerable loss deprived Arras of one of its greatest monuments and left a void in the landscape of the Cité. The demolition of the cathedral remains one of the most regrettable episodes of the history of the Arras heritage, the disappearance of a masterpiece that nothing could replace. It testifies to the upheavals of the era and to the fragility of a heritage that historical circumstances could condemn. To remember this demolition is to measure the scale of what was lost and to recall the value of this vanished monument.

The Concordat and the new cathedral

The disappearance of Notre-Dame-en-Cité coincided with the reorganisation of religious life permitted by the Concordat of 1801. This agreement between Napoleon, then First Consul, and the pope re-established Catholic worship in France and reorganised the dioceses after the revolutionary upheavals. In this framework, the question of the episcopal seat of Arras was posed. The medieval cathedral having been condemned, a new edifice had to be found to house the cathedral function. It is the former church of the abbey of Saint-Vaast, one of the richest monasteries of the town, that was chosen to become the new cathedral of Arras. This abbey church, a vast edifice of classical style built in the eighteenth century, offered a worthy setting to house cathedral worship. Thus, to the vanished Gothic cathedral succeeded the former abbey church of the abbey of Saint-Vaast, transformed into a cathedral. This transfer marked a rupture with tradition, the cathedral function leaving the historic quarter of the Cité to establish itself in the former domain of the abbey. It also testified to the profound reorganisation of religious life born of the Revolution and the Concordat. The new cathedral, heir to the abbey of Saint-Vaast, was henceforth to become the principal religious edifice of Arras, replacing the vanished monument. This substitution, born of circumstances, durably shaped the religious landscape of the town. To understand the role of the Concordat and the choice of the abbey of Saint-Vaast allows one to grasp how Arras endowed itself with a new cathedral after the loss of Notre-Dame-en-Cité, within the framework of the religious reorganisation willed by Napoleon.

Napoleon in Arras

It is in this context of reorganisation that Napoleon passed through Arras, in 1804. The head of State, then at the height of his power, made journeys in the north of France, notably in connection with the military preparations of the camp of Boulogne, from which he projected an expedition against England. His passage through Arras, capital of the Pas-de-Calais, belonged to these tours that led him across the country. The visit of such a personage constituted an event for the town, which welcomed the master of France. This Napoleonic passage coincided with the period when Arras was finishing turning the revolutionary page and reorganising itself under the new regime. It symbolises, in local memory, this moment of transition when the town, having lost its medieval cathedral, entered the new era of the Consulate and the Empire. The coming of Napoleon to Arras recalls the importance of the town as an administrative centre and its insertion into the great movements of national history. It also testifies to the attention that the power paid to this frontier and strategic region, close to the coasts and to England. The passage of the emperor, or of the First Consul according to the exact moment, struck minds and left a trace in the memory of Arras. It constitutes one of the episodes that link Arras to the great Napoleonic history. To situate this passage in the context of the disappearance of the cathedral and the reorganisation of the town allows one to grasp the pivotal character of this period. Napoleon in Arras is the image of a town in full transformation, having broken with the Ancien Régime and entering the new world, under the authority of the one who then embodied the destiny of France.

An irreparable loss

The disappearance of the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral constitutes an irreparable loss for the heritage of Arras. With it disappeared one of the greatest Gothic monuments of the town, a masterpiece that could have, had it survived, figured among the most remarkable cathedrals of the North of France. This loss today deprives Arras and its visitors of a major monument, whose splendour one can now only imagine. It illustrates the ravages that the Revolution and the upheavals of the turn of the century inflicted on the medieval religious heritage. Many cathedrals and churches were then destroyed or mutilated, in a context where the heritage value of these edifices was not recognised as it is today. The demolition of Notre-Dame-en-Cité belongs to this history of destructions, which durably impoverished the national heritage. For Arras, this loss is all the more keenly felt as the town, rich with a prestigious past, thus saw one of its most emblematic monuments disappear. The contrast is striking with the fate of other edifices, preserved or restored, which today make the pride and appeal of the city. The vanished cathedral recalls the fragility of heritage and the lasting consequences of the choices made at certain eras. It invites one to measure the value of what has survived and to reflect on the importance of the preservation of monuments. The loss of Notre-Dame-en-Cité thus remains a wound in the history of the Arras heritage, the reminder of what could have been and will never be, a masterpiece forever vanished that only memory can now evoke.

The memory of Notre-Dame-en-Cité

Although vanished, the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral has not totally left the memory of Arras. Its recollection remains attached to the quarter of the Cité, the former episcopal core, where it once rose. The sector, around the plateau of Baudimont, keeps the trace of this religious history, even if the monument itself has disappeared. The memory of the cathedral is perpetuated through the documents, representations and studies that keep its recollection, allowing one to imagine what this masterpiece was. This memory is all the more precious as the monument no longer exists: it constitutes the only means of preserving the trace of what was one of the great edifices of the town. Today, the cathedral function is assured by the former Saint-Vaast abbey church, whose monumental ensemble also houses the Museum of Fine Arts, testifying to the wealth of the preserved Arras heritage. The contrast between this vast preserved ensemble and the vanished cathedral illustrates the diverse destinies of the religious heritage of the town. To remember Notre-Dame-en-Cité is to honour the memory of a lost monument and to enrich the knowledge of the history of Arras. It is also to recall that the current urban landscape, however rich it may be, bears the mark of disappearances as much as of permanences. The vanished cathedral is part of this history, that of a town that lost a masterpiece but knew, through other monuments, how to preserve and transmit its rich heritage. To evoke this monument is thus to complete the picture of the history of Arras, by recalling the grandeur of what was and the value of what remains, so that the memory of Notre-Dame-en-Cité never quite fades from the recollection of the town.