Archaeological dig at Notre Dame may finally unravel centuries-old mystery of poet's burial

RFI

18 September 2024 at 9:15 am·1-min read

A centuries-old mystery surrounding a poet buried in Notre Dame in Paris could be close to being solved thanks to archaeological digs at the famous cathedral.

The exact whereabouts of the tomb of Joachim du Bellay, a French Renaissance poet, has puzzled researchers for many years.

Du Bellay, a member of a literary group known as La Pleiade, died aged 37 in 1560.

His family asked for him to be buried in Notre Dame's Saint-Crepin chapel. But when the site was renovated in 1758, no trace of his remains could be found.

His remains' precise location was shrouded in mystery until 2022 when archaeologists, sifting through the site in the aftermath of the 2019 fire that destroyed much of Notre Dame, found two tombs at the cathedral's nave.

Five years after devastating fire, race to rebuild Notre-Dame gains pace

The scientists, working for the national institute for preventative archaeology (Inrap), rapidly identified one of them as that of Antoine de La Porte, a cleric who died in the early 1700s.

But they could not immediately figure out who was buried in the other one.

Horse-riding

Using modern methods of analysis, the researchers began to find clues as to his possible identity. All pointed to du Bellay.

The archaeologists themselves preferred to remain cautious.

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Archaeological dig at Notre Dame may finally unravel centuries-old mystery of poet's burial

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