PARIS – As dusk falls over the City of Light, a new spectacle is illuminating Saint-Sulpice church, a monument whose interiors are even larger than Notre Dame's — and arguably just as breathtaking.
The cavernous walls of the neoclassical gem on Paris' Left Bank are coming alive with 360-degree video projections, sparkling cutting-edge technology and actors, all telling the story of the church and its place in French history.
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Blending centuries of intrigue, revolution and family drama, the show reimagines the Saint-Germain district during the Fronde, the 17th-century civil war, and the lead-up to the French Revolution.
“Paris Cœur de Lumières” (Paris Chancel of Lights), which runs until Nov. 23, transforms the church’s sprawling 6,000-square-meter (65,000-square-foot) interior into a digital stage through advanced video mapping.
“From a technological standpoint, it’s a laser scan of the entire building that allows us to reconstruct the space in three dimensions,” director Damien Fontaine explained.
“We then ‘unfold’ it like origami ... and put it back into 3D to be projected as a single unified image. We have over 45 projectors, each covering a part of the vaults, a section of a pillar, or a piece of the nave. It’s ... a mosaic of images to form one large picture.”
Projections transform stone carvings into animated storytellers, while immersive soundscapes, paired with an original score, wrap the audience in a sensory experience.
The actors brought history to life. Over 350 performers and volunteers, clad in more than 500 historical costumes, move among the audience portraying local families and rivalries, threading personal narratives into the broader history.
Many of those who volunteered themselves marveled at learning about little known aspects of French history.
Anne Dubosc, a 65-year-old amateur actress, played Anne of Austria, mother of Sun King Louis XIV.
“She was a remarkable woman, very involved in politics and religion,” Dubosc said. “I hadn’t realized how important she was. If Louis XIV became the man he was, it was partly thanks to this woman, this mother who was like a tigress, doing everything to protect her son and teaching him to be a great statesman.”
Performing in Saint-Sulpice, she added, was extraordinary: “It’s exceptional. You lose track of what’s happening, of where fiction ends and history begins.”
Her historic costume shaped her performance — literally.
“I have a corset that squeezes me so tightly,” she said. “You realize there’s a very 18th-century way of holding yourself, of carrying your shoulders and neck, which gives a natural majesty. The costume really impacts how you carry your body, and that posture influences your mind, giving character to this woman of state.”
The production underscored a growing trend in Paris of using light technology to show off the city's storied church interiors. A similar illuminations display took place at Saint-Eustache church until September, featuring video projections, lighting effects and spatialized electronic soundtrack.
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Associated Press writer Marine Lesprit contributed to this report.