Stories

Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Paris Reopens with Help from Vassar Professor
A Tribute to Professor Andrew Tallon, Who Made Cathedral’s Precision Rebuilding Possible
By Larry Hertz

The 800-year-old Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Paris, one of the most renowned buildings in the world, officially re-opens to the public this weekend—five and a half years after it was nearly destroyed by fire. The blaze ripped through the roof, causing its magnificent spire to collapse, and gutted many parts of the interior. On this happy occasion, it is fitting to look back on the contributions to the Cathedral’s restoration made by the late Vassar Professor of Art and renowned architectural historian Andrew Tallon.

Tallon, who died of cancer in November of 2018, pioneered the use of laser technology to create a digital model of Notre-Dame; his 3D laser scan contained more than a billion points of data. Members of the restoration team and architectural historian Lindsay S. Cook ’10—Assistant Teaching Professor of Architectural History at Pennsylvania State University, and a protégé of Tallon’s—said his work was critical to the Cathedral’s rebuilding and refurbishing.

The following are stories Vassar produced about Tallon’s work at Notre-Dame and tributes paid to him by members of the restoration team following his death.

A person, from the back, wearing all black in front of a camera on a tripod and another person wearing a navy blue shirt, black pants and white hat with both arms out in front facing a stone building.
Tallon traveled to Paris several times to inspect and map the deterioration of parts of the cathedral years before the fire. 
Photo courtesy of Andrew Tallon

This story, published in August 2017, describes Tallon’s work with Ford Scholar Karly Andreassen as they mapped areas of the Cathedral in need of repair. Read more.

Andrew Tallon’s digital rendering of the exterior of the cathedral with a black background.
Tallon’s digital rendering of the exterior of the cathedral. 
Photo by Andrew Tallon (Vassar College/Columbia University)

This story, published on April 17, 2019, two days after the fire erupted, recounts media reports of the key role Tallon’s work would play in the restoration of the Cathedral. Read more.

Tallon at work at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Tallon took some self-portraits as he mapped the cathedral.
Photo courtesy of the family of Andrew Tallon

This story, published in April 2022, announces the donation of Tallon’s research and teaching materials to Vassar’s Archives and Special Collections Library. Read more.

Three people sitting with a projected image of the restoration project of the Notre-Dame in the background.
Tallon protégé and Assistant Teaching Professor of Architectural History at Pennsylvania State University Lindsay S. Cook ’10 discusses the restoration project with two key participants, Philippe Villeneuve, Architect-in-Chief of Historic Monuments in charge of Notre-Dame, and fellow restoration architect Pascal Prunet, on the Vassar campus following the fire.
Photo by Kelly Marsh

This story, written by Lindsay Cook, chronicles remarks made at Vassar by two of the three architects responsible for rebuilding the Cathedral—Philippe Villeneuve, Architect-in-Chief of Historic Monuments in charge of Notre-Dame, and fellow restoration architect Pascal Prunet. “[Tallon’s] scan enabled us to reconstruct the vaults without any hesitation from a dimensional or formal standpoint, and it also granted us total freedom to understand how [the Cathedral] was made, to be able to rebuild it in a thoughtful, intellectual, and intelligent way,” Villeneuve said. Read more.

Andrew Tallon with Vassar President Elizabeth Bradley at Washington National Cathedral
Tallon with Vassar President Elizabeth Bradley at Notre-Dame, where he did extensive digital imaging.
Photo by John Bradley
Posted
December 9, 2024
Academics
Faculty