By Katie Vasquez
The world famous Notre Dame Cathedral has reopened to massive crowds, but if you can’t make it to France to see it in person, an exhibition at Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan brings the sacred space to you through digital tablets called “histopads.”
Visitors can use scan-to-view technology at designated spots around the cathedral, and they are transported from Morningside Heights New York, to Paris, France with a view of some of the renovations. Visitors to the experience, called “Notre Dame de Paris: the Augmented Exhibition,” can also travel through time, both to the 2019 fire and to 1160 during the early stages of the cathedral. Church officials and visitors alike say that the incredible European building has the ability to speak to people of all faiths.
“Through history we see people seeking this thing we call God, this reality we call God,” says Father Patrick Malloy, Dean of Cathedral of St John The Divine. “In a sense, stepping into a place like Notre Dame is not only stepping into a wonderful place of architecture. It’s stepping into history. It’s stepping into the past,” he explains.
“My father’s French so I guess that’s part of my roots,” visitor Marianne Tremarolai tells Currents News. “I think the cathedral is such a stunning and beautiful place and we can’t beat that window. I’m sorry, it’s just absolutely gorgeous – nothing like it anywhere.”
“The architecture, I mean it’s just so majestic, it’s gorgeous and there’s nothing like it around,” Steven Tremarolai adds, accompanying Marianne. “It’s just a beautiful piece of architecture so it’s hard not to be able to appreciate it.”
You can see the exhibit at the Cathedral of St John the Divine Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sundays from 12 pm to 4 pm.
There’s a small $10 fee to get in, but you can stay as long as you like. The exhibit will run until the end of January.
For more information and to get tickets, go to https://stjohndivine.org/ and search for “Notre Dame de Paris: the Augmented Exhibition.”