The Atlantic

A Motto for a World-Weary Paris

The Notre-Dame fire brought Parisians together, for just a moment, in a way that even the November 13 terrorist attacks could not.
Source: Thomas Samson / AFP / Getty

PARIS—The weather suddenly turned warm here this week. In the sidewalk cafés, they’re now sipping rosé, and on the Île Saint Louis, facing the back of Notre-Dame, the café-sitters burst into applause whenever firefighters pass by in their bulky red uniform. It’s touching, even a bit sentimental, but this is now the mood in Paris, a city that has, once again, been struck by tragedy and, once again, forged on.

She is tempest-tossed, but does not sink. That, it turns out, is the Latin motto of Paris. The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, cited it at an impromptu ceremony, during which she and other officials thanked the firefighters who had rushed to the cathedral, making that helped save its belfry towers, facade, and rose

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop
The Atlantic4 min read
KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago
My KitchenAid stand mixer is older than I am. My dad bought the white-enameled machine 35 years ago, during a brief first marriage. The bits of batter crusted into its cracks could be from the pasta I made yesterday or from the bread he made then. I

Related Books & Audiobooks