After the revolution, the Consuls of the Republic recognize the Catholic religion as the religion of the great majority of Frenchmen. It takes a year to turn Notre Dame into a world stage on which the coronation of Napoleon can take place. The Pope is reduced to a walking part when Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of France. The authority of the Church is eclipsed by a secular authority.
Since the fall of the First Empire, the representatives of the Monarchy and the Second Empire use the Notre Dame as a beacon of legitimacy. This political revaluation of the Notre Dame is well understood by the main characters who shape the 19th century: Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. But the ties between the Church and the political establishment regularly provoke the indignation of dissidents and political agitators. In 1830 they lead the mob to pillage the Episcopal Palace. When the Paris Commune is beaten down and communards resort to widespread arson they do not hesitate to set fire to Notre Dame.
