Rebuilding Notre-Dame: San Francisco Lecture

Part of WMF’s national lecture series on the largest preservation project of the century.

2025 Paul Mellon Lecture Dinner Hero II

date & time

Location

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 100 34th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121 

LOH 100 Stamp

The devastating fire at Notre-Dame de Paris on April 15, 2019 reminded the world of the significance of humanity’s built heritage and inspired a resolute commitment to rebuild. The extraordinary project that restored the beloved French landmark in just five years marks a triumph in preservation and a renewed commitment to safeguarding our shared cultural heritage. 

Following Notre-Dame's reopening in December 2024, get a behind-the-scenes look at the revival of this icon of French medieval architecture on March 8 in a special event presented in partnership with the Legion of Honor, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  

Special guests will include Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect for historic monuments in France, including Notre-Dame de Paris; Barry Bergdoll, professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University; and Emily A. Beeny, Curator in Charge of European Paintings at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in conversation with WMF President and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur.  

This event is free and open to the public. This program is hosted in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and is part of a national lecture series with events in San Francisco, Palm Beach, and New York City.

Rebuilding Notre-Dame: San Francisco Lecture

Part of WMF’s national lecture series on the largest preservation project of the century.

date & time

Location

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 100 34th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121 

LOH 100 Stamp
2025 Paul Mellon Lecture Dinner Hero II

The devastating fire at Notre-Dame de Paris on April 15, 2019 reminded the world of the significance of humanity’s built heritage and inspired a resolute commitment to rebuild. The extraordinary project that restored the beloved French landmark in just five years marks a triumph in preservation and a renewed commitment to safeguarding our shared cultural heritage. 

Following Notre-Dame's reopening in December 2024, get a behind-the-scenes look at the revival of this icon of French medieval architecture on March 8 in a special event presented in partnership with the Legion of Honor, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  

Special guests will include Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect for historic monuments in France, including Notre-Dame de Paris; Barry Bergdoll, professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University; and Emily A. Beeny, Curator in Charge of European Paintings at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in conversation with WMF President and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur.  

This event is free and open to the public. This program is hosted in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and is part of a national lecture series with events in San Francisco, Palm Beach, and New York City.

About the Speakers

  • Philippe Villeneuve

    Chief architect for historic monuments in France

    Philippe Villeneuve is the chief architect for historic monuments in France, including Notre-Dame de Paris, and has overseen restoration efforts at the cathedral since the 2019 fire.

  • Barry Bergdoll

    Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University

    Barry Bergdoll is the Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Professor Bergdoll’s broad interests center on modern architectural history. Trained in art history rather than architecture, he has an approach most closely allied with cultural history and the history and sociology of professions. He has studied questions of the politics of cultural representation in architecture, the larger ideological content of nineteenth-century architectural theory, and the changing role of both architecture as a profession and architecture as a cultural product in nineteenth-century European society. In exhibitions at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and at the Museum of Modern Art, where he served as Philip Johnson Chief Curator from 2007 to 2013, Bergdoll has offered a series of exhibitions intended to offer more inclusive visions of subjects from Mies van der Rohe (and his relationship to garden reform and landscape), the Bauhaus, Henri Labrouste, Le Corbusier, Latin American post-war architecture, and most recently Frank Lloyd Wright. 

  • Emily A. Beeny

    Curator in Charge of European Paintings, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

    Emily A. Beeny is the Curator in Charge of European Paintings at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She holds a PhD from Columbia University and is a specialist in French paintings and drawings of the 17th through 19th centuries. She joined the Museums from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. 

  • Bénédicte de Montlaur

    President and CEO, World Monuments Fund

    Bénédicte de Montlaur is President and CEO of World Monuments Fund (WMF), the world’s foremost private organization dedicated to saving extraordinary places while empowering the communities around them. Since 1965, WMF’s global team of experts has preserved the world's diverse cultural heritage using the highest international standards at over 700 sites in 112 countries. 

Related Projects & Programs

TUR_HistoricCityOfAntakya_Landscape_1.JPG
Active Program

Crisis Response Program

Since our founding, WMF has engaged directly with cultural heritage sites affected by destruction resulting from natural disasters, armed conflict, and other disruptive events.
2025 Paul Mellon Lecture Dinner Hero III
Upcoming
Rebuilding Notre-Dame: Palm Beach Lecture

The Society of the Four Arts, 100 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach, FL 33480 

RSVP
Mellon Lecture
Upcoming
2025 Paul Mellon Lecture: Behind Notre-Dame’s Monumental Restoration

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, New York, NY 10025

RSVP