Building legacies

An exhibition shows how architect Tong Jun's journeys of discovery constructed new links between East and West, Lin Qi reports.

If Tong Jun were alive today, he'd celebrate the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, anticipated to be completed this December, with particular gusto.

The roughly 850-year-old landmark that was engulfed in flames five years ago was a favorite of the late architect and scholar. While traveling in France, he wrote about his love for this Gothic building in a diary entry dated May 23, 1930: "Notre-Dame is the most interesting. Its interior has an extraordinarily mystical atmosphere, which is accentuated by those beautiful stained-glass windows, making one feel his heart tremble. It's the best experience I've ever had."

He hailed the marvel again in another diary entry three days later, after visiting Chartres Cathedral, which he believed didn't have the same mystique.