Pictures of the week | Is this picture of the Notre Dame fire an iconic image? - youtube

This video considers what makes a modern iconic image . The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was shown live around the world. The pictures suggested that the cathedral would be destroyed, but the next day, this picture by Christophe Petit Tesson, from Agence France Presse (AFP) caused the world a huge sigh of relief as it revealed that the damage tot he building was less severe than feared.

I thought today we might take a look at this picture and explore the concept of an iconic image.

Of course, in western culture the term comes from the greek world for Image, and began with religious iconography. These images or statues represented religious stories and were touchstones for a wider narrative. They provoked the same feeling and emotions from the faithful, because they referred to the teachings of the religion. It is easy to see how a religious image can be iconic, but how can a secular image get the same reaction from so many people around the world?

This image entered the public conscience at a specific moment in the story of the Notre Dame fire, the moment when it seemed that the cathedral might be saved.

The mechanics of the distribution of this picture helped too. Christophe is an Agence France Presse (AFP) photographer and all the newspapers in France would have had access to this on their electronic picture feeds.

AFP also supply many of the major news organisations across the globe, so they would have had instant access to it too.

Of course the religious imagery in this picture helps too. Despite France being officially a secular country, it is still - like most of Europe - culturally Christian.

And the symbolism of the golden cross in the wreckage of the altar is simple and powerful.

If there had been a painting from the life and times of christ or a picture of the saints here, then the simple message might have been muddled. But to christians, the cross represents both death and renewal.

you can see the picture by Christophe Petit Tesson on Getty Images here:


The london blitz pictures from Alamy .com are here :


and the other Notre Dame fire pictures form Alamy.com are here:


But lets go back to this picture by Christophe PETIT TESSON, of the altar in Notre Dame.
Does it meet the requirements of an iconic image? Well it has been ubiquitous over the last few weeks and is instantly recognisable. It is visual confirmation of the limited damage of the fire and no doubt will be in the public mind for some time - after all it will take at least 5 yrs for the cathedral to be fully repaired.
The picture will no doubt feature in pictures of the year articles in newspapers and magazines this year, and is one of the news images of the decade. and it does have the advantage over video footage in that it can be examined and analysed more closely, by readers, allowing them to see
for themselves that the cathedral is safe.
But perhaps more importantly, this picture came to the world with a collective sigh of relief -
with news that the cathedral would survive and could be rebuilt - and so it triggers similar
memories and emotions for nearly everyone around the world who witnessed the fire.
Notre dame itself is an icon of secular France in its own right, and visited by millions every year.
This image will always be associated with hope and renewal - and not just with the faithful.

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