Notre Dame is burning.

[Lechasseur]

Macron's special representative for the ''reconstruction'' of Notre Dame told the chief architect of Notre Dame to ''shut up'' at a Senate culture committee hearing due to his views on Notre Dame's spire. Macron's representative, Jean-Louis Georgelin, wants a modern spire built while Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect, wants the spire rebuilt the way it was before the fire and said that if a modern spire is to be built, then a different architect will have to do it.

The Senate culture committee has implied that Georgelin should be removed from the project while the Minister of Culture Franck Riester criticized him as well.

https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/11/15/tolle-politique-apres-le-derapage-du-representant-de-macron-sur-la-reconstruction-de-notre-dame-de-paris_6019233_3246.html

[Lechasseur]

Un-f**king-believable

Yeah the current government clearly has no respect for anyone that even slightly disagrees with them

[Lechasseur]

Ok the organization that will be dealing with Notre Dame's restoration has been officially created and the guy from the previous story I posted here will be it's president...

The decision on what to do with the spire should be made at the beginning of 2021.

The government also still insists on finishing the work in 5 years.

That being said, the stabilization of the building won't be finished for another year.

https://www.la-croix.com/amp/1201063759

[Lechasseur]

Tbh with what I said about the decision on the spire, I think it will be a modern one.

Macron has been very adamant on that and his choice of leader of this organization I think proves he won't budge.

[Lechasseur]

The government also still insists on finishing the work in 5 years.

How long did the original building take to construct?

1163-1330: 167 years (which was actually pretty quick for a medieval cathedral, although I believe if the funds were there a cathedral could generally be built in 40 years or so, and there are some examples of quickly built cathedrals like that, say Salisbury or Chartres iirc).

At any rate 5 seems to really be rushing it to me. I'd imagine 10-20 would probably be more realistic if you want the building to stay in good shape long term.

[Lechasseur]

As of now, the scaffolding that was in place when the fire erupted, is being taken down this month.

The scaffolding is considered to be the biggest risk to the cathedral's stability. The dismantling of the scaffolding is supposed to be complete by the end of the month I believe.

[Lechasseur]

Also, Parvis Notre Dame (the square in front of Notre Dame) is supposed to be reopened at the end of the month.

The archeological museum below the square is also supposed to reopen then.

[Lechasseur]

http://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/le-parvis-de-notre-dame-ouvre-a-15-heures-31-05-2020-8327127.php

Parvis Notre Dame, the square in front of the Cathedral, reopened today after having been closed for over a year.

It was originally supposed to reopen at the end of March but the reopening got delayed due to the quarantine.

[Lechasseur]

I went to see Parvis Notre Dame yesterday evening and it was actually looking OK. The area around Notre Dame is a lot less depressing now with the square reopened.

I'd post a photo I took of the square now, but I can't figure out how to upload my photos onto here from my phone.

[Lechasseur]

https://actu.orange.fr/france/notre-dame-de-paris-emmanuel-macron-renonce-a-son-idee-de-geste-architectural-contemporain-magic-CNT000001ruJKR.html

Emmanuel Macron has finally decided to restore Notre Dame identically to the way it was before and not build a modern spire. The roof and spire will be rebuilt according to Viollet-le-Duc's plans (the architect of the roof and spire destroyed during the fire last year). The roof and spire will be rebuilt identically.

The scaffolding will be taken down by the end of September and the rebuilding is still planned to be completed in 2024.

The chief architect stated rebuilding the roof and spire identically would be quicker than building a new, modern spire, which probably factored into the President's decision.

[Lechasseur]

I honestly also suspect part of the reason he renounced the modern design plan for Notre Dame is because he knows at this point his base are former UMP/LR voters, and they generally didn't like the idea.

He wasn't going to burn political capital over it. Tbh it wasn't really popular with anyone except for the "PS" wing of LREM really.

[Lechasseur]

The vast majority of people I know wanted the roof and spire rebuilt identically and that was surely the case for the French overall and I think Macron finally got that.

You need to know which fights are worth fighting and which ones aren't, and this wasn't one that was worth fighting in his case, given overall people wanted it rebuilt like the original.

[Lechasseur]

Well, at any rate his decision to go with identical reconstruction of the roof and spire of Notre Dame is great news

[Lechasseur]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lci.fr/amp/police/un-feu-important-en-cours-dans-la-cathedrale-de-nantes-2159581.html

Major fire in Nantes Cathedral

[Lechasseur]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPVCeJbhug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5JDfelKPc

A progress update on Notre Dame from ABC News

[Lechasseur]

https://www.archdaily.com/966058/notre-dame-update-restoration-work-advances-and-us-students-rebuild-one-of-its-roof-trusses-using-medieval-techniques

The "safety" phase of the Notre Dame restoration project is winding down and the real restoration work is supposed to start later this year, and reconstruction of the roof and spire is supposed to start next year.

The goal is still to have the building reopened for the 2024 Olympics.

[Lechasseur]

https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/17/notre-dame-restoration-work-goes-on-display

Rebuilding of Notre Dame's spire and roof has started. The spire is scheduled to be finished in mid-2023 and the cathedral is due to reopen on December 8th 2024 as of now.