2.4 | Dismantling the Old Regime

In stone and in people’s minds

The rejection of symbols reminiscent of the Old Regime extended to royal and religious emblems. Many cultural artefacts were destroyed, but many others were protected and added to the collections set up by the first public heritage policies.

In the autumn of 1793, the Paris Commune ordered the destruction of “monuments that fuel religious prejudice”. In 1794, this “vandalism” was denounced by the Abbé Grégoire, from the very benches of the Mountain party. The notion of Reason, a cardinal virtue of all good Republicans, was celebrated with great pomp in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, now transformed into a temple, during the Festival of Liberty on 10 November 1793. A deistic faith with no clergy was subsequently promulgated by the authorities: the Cult of the Supreme Being. This new cult was intended to further strengthen the bonds between citizens and their Republic, although it did not last.