Notre Dame Sarcophagi Mystery Solved

December 28, 2022

Good morning. 🌤️ What a tragedy it was to watch in real-time as Paris's Notre Dame cathedral went up in flames in 2019. Earlier this year, restoration experts onsite unearthed two mysterious sarcophagi that had been buried beneath the church for centuries. Now the sarcophagi have been opened, and we have details on the identities of the entombed. The researchers cared to note that one of the bodies had “extraordinarily good teeth” while the other had almost no teeth. Our staff reporter Rhea Nayyar has this one.

Also today, rarely-seen Norman Rockwell drawings, a primer on Catholic symbolism in Western art history, and an effort to prettify NYC's Kafkaesque Port Authority Bus Terminal with public murals. Sadly, no mural can make Port Authority's restrooms smell any better.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Norman Rockwell's Exceptional Drawings, Revealed for the First Time

Extensively illustrated, Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1911–1976 is the first book dedicated to the artist’s prolific but largely private drawing practice. | Lauren Moya Ford

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The Public Theater’s Under The Radar Festival Lights Up NYC This January

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WHAT'S HAPPENING

View of the lead sarcophagus surrounded by 19th-century heating flues (© Denis Gliksman, Inrap)

Two lead sarcophagi found beneath the floor slabs of Notre Dame belonged to religious dignitary Antoine de la Porte and an unidentified aristocratic cavalier.

Nine contemporary artists have taken over vacant advertising spaces at NYC’s aesthetically beleaguered Port Authority.

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ART & MORE

How to Crack the Catholic Code of the Old Masters

Suzanna Ivanič's new book Catholica: The Visual Culture of Catholicism is an essential primer on how Catholicism intersects with art history. | Daniel Larkin

Two SWANA Artists’ Vision for a City of the Future

Dahlia Elsayed and Andrew Haik Demirjian imagine “Mustaqbaaaahpolis” as a city free from “extraction, time scarcity, and exploitation.” | Sarah Rose Sharp

The Horror and Banality of American Racism

Christy Chan’s Who’s Coming to Save You? makes clear the perpetual nature of American bigotry. | Scotti Hill

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