Crossroads Roundup: Uproar Over Notre-Dame, a Medieval Cemetery Mystery, and a Beatles Painting Goes to Auction

Our favorite stories on art, archaeology, folklore, and more from this past week.

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Notre-Dame de Paris, October 2010. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Contemporary windows for Notre-Dame? Not if the people have something to say about it…

Nothing prompts a strong reaction quite like messing with someone’s cultural heritage. As of this week, over 125,000 people have signed a petition protesting the use of contemporary stained glass to replace the 19th century windows in Notre-Dame cathedral, which was damaged by a massive fire in 2019. What I find especially odd about the whole thing is that unlike the cathedral’s spire and about two-thirds of its roof, the stained-glass windows were not damaged by the fire—why replace them?