01
A young man comes to Notre Dame de Paris around 1820. In a dark corner between two bell towers, the young man noticed a hand-carved word on a stone wall: destiny! In that moment, the fated and heartbreaking meaning of the word struck him y, and he pondered and speculated about what kind of suffering soul it was. Years later, the young man visited again and found that the word had disappeared, for all parts of the monastery had been vandalized: the walls had been sanded and painted, and the people who had come to visit were destroying it, and he wrote: "The same ancient man who, centuries ago, carved this word on this stone wall, has passed away; and now it is the turn of the word to disappear from the stone walls of the church, and it will probably not be long before this main church itself will also disappear from the stone walls. And it may not be long before this main church itself will disappear from the earth!" The young man was Victor Hugo, who decided to write a novel to preserve Notre Dame de Paris on paper!
Notre Dame de Paris is located on the banks of the Seine River. 1163, the foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III. The high altar, choir stalls, west fa?ade and atrium were completed around 1240. The decoration of the portico, the prayer room and various other parts was done successively over a period of 100 years. But as far as the building as a whole is concerned, it was completed in 1245 during the time of Huanli Augustus.
Hugo expressed his concern about the "destruction" of Notre Dame several times in the novel. He wrote: "Notre Dame de Paris is an architectural beauty ...... This venerable monument has suffered countless vandalisms and disfigurations, and we not only look up to the heavens with a sigh of indignation." "Time destroys everything, mankind destroys everything." "But time has wrought less ruin, man has wrought much destruction." "Notre Dame de Paris is a model for the evolution of Romanesque to Gothic architecture ...... Every wall of it, every stone, is a page not only in the history of our country, but also in the history of science and art." Thus, Notre Dame de Paris is a symbol of the history, culture and spirit of the French!
The novel Notre Dame de Paris revolves around the word "destiny": a gypsy girl, Esmeralda, holding a goat, is a wild girl. Claude, the moralistic bishop of Notre Dame, is infatuated with her, but he can't get the maiden's heart, so the sinister Claude, with the snobbishness of the Church, accuses Esmeralda of murdering the captain of the guards, Chateaupre, and the king's litigant uses all kinds of penalties on Esmeralda: "First, the pinch stick!" Esmeralda prayed, "I am not guilty!" "Well then, proceed with the torture!" Esmeralda succumbed to the beating.
"Bohemian girl, do you admit to frequenting hell's banquets, voodoo nights and raising demons with evil spirits, strange-faced men and vampires?" Esmeralda said, "Yes, I admit it!" "At last the water is clear, gentlemen, as the lady can testify, and we have just done everything possible to make the sentence as light as possible!" The king's civilized men, therefore, decided to sentence Esmeralda, a barbarous girl, to be hanged! Quasimodo, the bell-ringer, whose face is ugly, like the monster on the roof of Notre Dame, is taken in by Claude, and is therefore so loyal to him that he does not hesitate even when Claude tells Quasimodo to jump from the roof of the building. However, Quasimodo saw through Kludd's sinister intentions and risked his life to rescue Esmeralda. He did not find Esmeralda. Enraged, Quasimodo pushed his benefactor Claude off when he saw him standing on the roof of a building enjoying the night!
Notre Dame de Paris is a lament that judges the good and evil of human nature and contemplates the beauty of the heart! Hugo wrote: "Ugly is next to beautiful, deformity is close to grace, ugliness and monstrosity hide behind the sublime, evil and good coexist, darkness and light ****! "Not only does Notre Dame de Paris depict universal human nature, but it is also an in-depth analysis of European nationhood!
02
It is very unfortunate that there was a fire in Notre Dame de Paris. Many of my friends thought of the Yuanmingyuan while deploring it, and their hearts were more or less sour. I think this should be an instinctive reaction, because we didn't react like this when the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed in Afghanistan, or when the monuments of civilization were destroyed in Syria. The Yuanmingyuan was burnt down by the British and French Allied Forces, and the damage it caused was more disastrous than that of Notre Dame de Paris! But Notre Dame de Paris was not burned by foreign invaders; it was caused by their own mistakes! Therefore, it is enough for us to express our regret and comfort, and there is no need for us to mourn the death of our parents! What must not be forgotten is that in the last hundred years, the European and American powers, as if they were Claude, have caused a lot of chaos all over the world, destroying a great number of historical monuments and Esmeraldas, and they do not feel sorry for them!
Now, the global contribution to the construction of Notre Dame has been several hundred million euros, the destruction of "world heritage" by the "world" to "pay the bill", which makes people feel a little strong, but the world has not been able to pay the bill. This is a double standard! Some people say that the burning of Notre Dame is linked to the burning of the Yuanmingyuan is a narrow nationalism - I think this is a bit of "sublime excess" and "pretentiousness"! I think this is a bit "sublime excess" and "pretentious"!
Forgetting history means betrayal. But remembering history does not mean remembering hatred! What has happened cannot be changed. So what kind of attitude should we adopt? Personally, I think it should be reflection! Not only do we need to reflect, but more importantly, we need to urge other countries to do the same: Why did the Qing Dynasty close its doors to the rest of the world, and was opened by the great powers with their ships and guns? Why did the British and French forces loot the Yuanmingyuan and burn it down? Why did they destroy the monuments of the Qing Dynasty and ask the Qing Dynasty to compensate them with huge amounts of silver? Why did they commit crimes and still want to bleach themselves as the righteous party? History is made by human beings.
The motivation for human beings to create history lies in the psychological activities behind it! Only by gaining insight into the true psychological state and human nature of mankind can we truly understand history! As in Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris, as a "history of the mind" of mankind, who is Esmeralda, the savage girl with the goat, and who is Claude, the moralist who judges in the garb of civilization? Isn't it still worth pondering in today's world?
More than 100 years of history is not a long time, and it is unrealistic to expect the Chinese people to move quickly from that memory of the past. Therefore, I personally believe that there is no shame in expressing one's thoughts honestly and openly, and only in this way will one win the respect of others, because from the point of view of world history, apart from the ethical standards set by the "Great Powers" Kludd, there are also the principles upheld by Quasimodo!