Thirty-Six Views of Notre Dame, solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo

Thirty-Six Views of Notre Dame, solo exhibition

Open from September 18, 2025

National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zelenih beretki 8
Sarajevo 71000
Bosnia & Herzegovina

In partnership with The VII Foundation, the solo show presents the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, based on his book Thirty-Six Views of Notre Dame (Radius Books, 2024). For more than a decade, van Houtryve photographed the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, initially as a part of everyday city life and subsequently as a witness to its near-destruction and subsequent rebirth after the blaze in April 2019. The show weaves together the story of the fire, documenting the building’s original, damaged, and rebuilt state.

From a garret window overlooking the cathedral to the tip of a crane above the reconstruction site, van Houtryve’s lens captured key moments of the rebuilding. He worked with both modern tools, including drone cameras, and historic techniques, including a 19th-century wooden camera, revealing the Paris icon in a visual language both old and new.

Notre Dame is not merely a church. For over 800 years, it has been the epicenter of French life, accommodating coronations, revolutions, wars, and tens of millions of tourists from around the world. It has been ravaged, looted, rebuilt, and redefined time and again. This exhibition offers the chance to stand and consider what places like Notre Dame are to us, how they connect generations, and why it’s worth saving them, not just the stone and glass but also the stories that we continue to tell.

Thirty-Six Views of Notre Dame is a reflection on the human desire to build with care and intention for future generations. In these images, van Houtryve invites us to not only look at a building but also to examine the manner in which history is present and active through the spaces that we choose to save.

The exhibition is organized by The VII Foundation in collaboration with the French Institute in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the French Embassy and supported by UNESCO, the European Union, and the Government of Switzerland.