Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Experience an extraordinary union of history and technology at Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition, covering 850 years of Notre-Dame’s remarkable history, brought to life through cutting-edge augmented reality.

Guided by illuminated photo panels and 3-D models of Notre-Dame—including a full-size chimera—visitors use a HistoPad™, an interactive touch-screen tablet developed by Histovery, to step back in time to medieval Paris where they will meet stonemasons, craftsmen, and builders. From there they move forward through time where they will see the construction of the Gothic Choir in 1180, the arrival of the Holy Crown carried by Saint Louis in 1241, the coronation of Emperor Napoleon I in 1804, and the addition of the iconic Viollet-le-Duc spire in 1859, and witness Notre-Dame’s miraculous survival from the 2019 fire that shocked the world as the exhibit shows history unfold in real-time.

Throughout the exhibition visitors can scroll through a timeline of Notre-Dame’s construction history and select options on each screen for more detail. Current restoration is a major focus of the exhibition and using the HistoPad visitors will see modern-day experts and master craftspeople in action to rebuild and restore Notre-Dame.

This groundbreaking approach to storytelling merges centuries-old architecture with compelling multimedia—a cultural experience uniquely suited for a diverse audience, from art lovers, history nerds, to tech enthusiasts. Ideal for New Yorkers looking to rediscover culture in a dynamic way, it’s an innovative marriage of past and present.