To enjoy this immersive experience on binaural sound, we recommend you listen to this title through earphones.

Looking for Notre Dame takes us into the mind of the young Victor Hugo as he begins his research before writing his "cathedral novel" Notre-Dame de Paris. The year is 1828. Victor Hugo is 26 years old. Notre-Dame was then a church in a dilapidated state. Its renovation by Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus will only take place in 1843. Notre-Dame is dying and Hugo wants to resurrect it, bring it back to its past splendor.

Victor Hugo will engage in a detailed investigation on the sounds of Notre-Dame, making us explore its acoustics and soundscapes over the centuries. He will meet several people for his research: priests, historians, musicians, Viollet-le-Duc, Mérimée... He draws his inspiration from Notre Dame, the consultation of the manuscripts (among which the Black Book, that was thrown in the Seine), history books, but especially from his own imagination, which he nourishes by listening to polyphones.

The scenario is inspired by the story of the writing of the novel Notre-Dame de Paris, largely documented by Victor Hugo himself in his diary, as well as by his entourage. The events of the story are thus taking place in a form of spatiotemporal reality (the dates, the historical events, the temporality of the narrative). In the background, we also learn of the intimate life story of Hugo: the birth of his daughter Adèle, his wife’s adultery with his best friend, his literary meetings, his disputes with the publishers and how he lost the first version of his manuscript during the revolution of July 1830...

The script includes many passages from Victor Hugo's novel, integrated in the form of a reading by the protagonists, or quotations in descriptions and dialogues. This title will make you live the soundscapes and acoustic reconstructions of Notre Dame between the 12th and the 19th century thanks to the advanced research carried out in the PHEND project “The Past has Ears at Notre Dame” since the 2019 fire.

For example, one can hear the sounds of the construction site, a funeral oration of Bossuet as it was pronounced in the 17th century, the events of the French revolution, the bells, the 18th century organ, and many excerpts from musical works performed at Notre Dame.

This immersive narration invites you to rediscover the cathedral of sounds and paper and its incredible history. Welcome to Notre Dame!

Director: Laurence Courtois

Script: Timothée de Fombelle and Nelly Labère

Production: Cécile Cros, Narrative

Audible editorial coordination: Lidwine Hô

Production: Cécile Cros, Narrative

Scientific coordination: Brian Katz, Sorbonne University

Sound recording and editing: Simon Cacheux

Sound effects: Gilles Marsalet

3D mixing: Jean Marc Lyzwa, Julia Griner-Abraham

In partnership with:

Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Lyon Saint -Etienne

IReMus Institute of Research in Musicology

Institute Jean le rond d'Alembert

Centre André Chastel: Research Laboratory in Art History Sunmetron

With the support of the Agence Nationale de Recherche, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the "European Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage".

Partial funding has been provided by the European Union’s Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage project PHE (The Past Has Ears, Grant No. 20-JPIC-0002-FS) and the French project PHEND (The Past Has Ears at Notre-Dame, Grant No. ANR-20-CE38-0014).