In Spring 2019, tragedy struck Notre-Dame, the cathedral of Paris–one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved buildings–as fire broke out under the cathedral’s roof. In subsequent days, experts assessed the extent of the damage while also looking toward the herculean task of consolidation, conservation, and restoration. Amidst the tragedy, there was one small note of hope–the late architectural historian Andrew Tallon had only a few years before completed a vast scanning project of the cathedral, producing a highly detailed digital record of Notre-Dame’s structure.

The Fall 2020 Howard E. Wooden Lecture explores this remarkable digital record and its possible contribution to Notre-Dame’s future restoration. Speaker Dr. Lindsay Cook, Assistant Professor of Art History at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, earned her doctorate from Columbia University. She recently published “Notre Dame Cathedral: Nine Centuries of History, ” an English translation of Dany Sandron and Andrew Tallon’s recent book about the changing shape of the cathedral over time.

The Howard E. Wooden Lecture series is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Wichita Art Museum.