Round table “Notre-Dame de Paris, emblem ofcreative imagination and French know-how » during the We Are French Touch organized by Bpifrance at the Maison de la Mutualité.

The We Are French Touch day organized by Bpifrance put the spotlight on the construction site of Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral. Almost a year before its reopening, the French Touch wanted for the occasion to highlight the professions that work there as well as the unique programming around the cathedral, its architecture and its history. Report of the round table “Notre-Dame de Paris, emblem of the creative imagination and French know-how”.

While waiting for the end of its reconstruction planned in a year, Notre-Dame de Paris will not have completely disappeared from the scene and even less from the collective imagination. More than three years after the devastating fire, the cathedral has never even ceased to exist for the visitor who dares to cross the borders of reality. Virtual tour, augmented exhibition, “escape game”… Thanks to the strength of French digital and an unprecedented creative impulse, witness to the dynamism of the French Touch and its advance in the craft professions and digital culture, companions from France to networks of start-ups and creative studios, the emblematic monument, its history, its architecture as well as the professions which built it, can be (re)discovered not without emotion. This is what the speakers at the round table “Notre-Dame de Paris, emblem of the creative imagination and French know-how” tell us, moderated by Marie Yanowitz-Durand, director of communications, development and cultural program of “Rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris”.

Dominique Niel, general director of Ateliers de France: “You can start with a manual profession and end up at the head of your company”

“Les Ateliers de France form a group of 53 SMEs (distributed in 12 countries around the world) specializing in heritage restoration and highly decorated buildings. Passionate people and extremely proud of their projects, such as that of the Grand Palais, the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, of course Notre-Dame, as well as modern complexes focused on luxury, such as the Cheval blanc hotel at the Samaritaine . The Ateliers de France represent 2500 employees including 1900 journeymen. Our reason for being is the work of the hand. Our jobs are diverse. On the Notre-Dame construction site, we are taking care of the framework of the Nave. It is also roofing, facade decorations, all interior trades such as woodwork and painted decorations, etc. The Notre-Dame construction site is exceptional in terms of its size, the scope of the work, and the multitude of trades involved. A very well organized project which took place in three phases: the securing phase, since the cathedral could have collapsed, with the flying buttresses threatening to collapse. The site also had to be decontaminated and sensors installed to check if the cathedral would move during the work. Then a study phase with laboratory tests to decide on restoration protocols. This was followed by the actual work phase, with the intervention of a procession of experts, stonecutters, sculptors, mural painting specialists, carpenters, ironworkers... Finally, the technical batch phase since it will be necessary electrify the cathedral, install heating... Which represents, for us, up to 200 full-time workers, with peaks of 600 in the cathedral, and almost as many in the workshops on the outskirts, in Anger for the framework, in careers... They are just enthusiasts, many young people who came forward spontaneously. You should know that certain companions can work as in the Middle Ages: the framework of the Nave was cut with the dooir with these special axes handled by carpenters from the United States, Canada, and France too, the only ones to master this know-how. In these professions where recruitment is not easy, as evidenced by certain European countries such as Denmark where stonecutters have disappeared, it is essential to encourage vocations. But emblematic construction sites like this one are of interest! We had already seen this on the construction site of the Lambert Hotel, on Île Saint-Louis, where young people put their CVs in the mailbox to come to work. So we have a lot of requests, but it's not enough... We need to do a lot more to interest young people, open days, Heritage Days, etc. Handwork is something good. And I say it, if there are young people in the room: you can start with a manual profession and end up at the head of your business. »

Deborah Papiernik, senior VP New business at Ubisoft: “Notre-Dame is burning: a high-quality VR experience arousing a lot of emotion”

“Our connection with Notre-Dame does not date from the fire, but from the release of our video game “Assassin's Creed Unity” about the French Revolution in 2014. With “Assassin's Creed Unity” – the series of historical video games sold in the whole world with tens of millions of players – we recreate immersive worlds with the help of historians, geographers, sociologists… We strive to reconstruct daily life, everything that means that the player will be engaged in the story. Among our main characters is Notre-Dame de Paris through a 3D representation that is not 100% accurate but as faithful as possible which required 5000 hours of graphics based on plans, on-site visits... So much so that these 3D images of the cathedral from the game were widely shared on the networks then taken up by newspapers and channels, the day after the fire. Ubisoft contributed financially to the reconstruction, but we also made the game Assassin's Creed available for free to gamers. We had to go further: the idea came to make it an immersion in virtual reality. A five-minute experience in the cathedral using a VR headset. We are teleported to ten different viewpoints and we even end with a balloon ride above the cathedral. This project came together very quickly, six months after the fire when we still did not know if the cathedral would stand. “Notre-Dame de Paris, journey into the past” is a high-quality experience for a wide audience. She was seen everywhere with a lot of emotion. Finally we put it free on the VR stores then it was integrated into the exhibition in the Archaeological Crypt of Notre-Dame and in the network of micro-folies, these digital museums (400 on French territory) of the Ministry of Culture. The adventure continued with Jean Jacques Annaud who was preparing his film “Notre-Dame burns”. He wanted us to make a video game, which would have taken four years of work. Instead, I suggested that we create an “escape game” whose goal would be to save Notre Dame in one hour. A close collaboration with him and his teams began: he shared with us the script of the film, he invited my team to the shoots so that they could immerse themselves in the emotion of Notre-Dame, he also presented us with the firefighters who were on the fire to make our experience as realistic as possible. The “Notre-Dame is burning” escape game is currently operating in around 700 rooms around the world. »

Morgan Boucher, Global Head Metaverse x XR x web3 at Orange: “Eternal Notre-Dame: the key axis was to respect historical accuracy”

“Our history with Notre-Dame is an incredible adventure. The day after the fire, the whole world was moved. There was an outpouring of solidarity to help with the reconstruction in which we participated financially. But Orange wanted to contribute to this emotion by providing an addition that could be useful in the short term: virtually reopening this emblematic place so that we can continue to visit it. The development of this immersive augmented reality tour project with various French partners lasted two years. We then imagined an economic model in which visitors contribute 30% of the ticket price to the catering. The whole challenge was to have a balance between the cultural dimension and the historical dimension, with a way of welcoming the general public in the best possible way. The key axis was to respect historical accuracy. The question of grammar and interaction was central: to help us properly design the experience, the teams of the Diocese and in particular two historians accompanied us in writing the scenario. One thing led to another and we refined the subject, with a contemplative dimension, another historical one, in an entertaining and family format. The 45-minute experience was first shown in La Défense, until the 1000 m² space under the Notre-Dame square, which can accommodate around a hundred visitors, was accessible in January 2023. Today it is 100 people per hour, families, French and foreign tourists, schools. We are struck by how the public, particularly young people, embrace it. The experience is now also in Taiwan, soon in North America, in Asia, so we feel an appetite from all over the world for this emblematic place. Emotion was the common thread during these two years of development. »

Bruno de Sa Moreira, CEO and co-founder of Histovery: “Notre Dame de Paris in augmented reality: this visit is also a presentation of know-how”

“At Histovery, we were in discussions in 2019 with the Notre-Dame de Paris teams to design an augmented visit in the same format as what exists at the Château de Chambord, at the Conciergerie... Following the fire, the idea has come to explore a new format: a traveling exhibition which could travel and allow the history of the cathedral to be relived. The project was therefore born, “Notre Dame de Paris in augmented reality”, made possible thanks to the L’Oréal group which financed its development and international career. A third is dedicated to visits to reconstruction sites covering all trades and know-how and allowing you to see high construction at work. The visitor travels through 850 years of history, from its construction in the Middle Ages, to today and tomorrow, its reconstruction. The first difficulty was the number of experts to bring together in order to cover the extent of the historical field, i.e. a scientific committee of around forty people. The 3D production was then very important so that the visitor had access to this pharaonic construction site of the time and also had the possibility of a personal journey that he chose himself since the visit is interactive. Besides, to see everything, you would have to spend a whole day there... This is one key to the success of the project: you can come with family, with children, grandparents, or with friends, and each person can create their own visit. and then we talk about it. A moment of living culture and a deeply documented, solid, serious and instructive experience which is particularly aimed at the education sector. The project was first shown in 2021, in Dubai, in the France pavilion of the Universal Exhibition. We were then struck by the diversity of the audiences. Today the exhibition has traveled to seven cities (including Paris, Montreal and Mexico) and the project is to go to 15 cities until December 2024 with emblematic places like Westminster Abbey and the National Palace Museum in Seoul. Finally, you should know that in each exhibition we make updates to tell you where the project is at. This is an important part. Visitors are amazed to see that all these trades from the Middle Ages are returning to Notre Dame. We saw it in Dubai with the example of the rope access technician who makes children dream. This visit is also a presentation of the trades and know-how of companies that come from all over the world to rebuild the monument. »

Relive the We Are French Touch 2023 edition event