Authorities say that the great organ and the north rosette seem to be safe. They don’t say anything about the other organs nor the either rosette.
Thank you for all your thoughts
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French player here, we discussed the fire last dinner.
I’ve said Notre-Dame was undergoing a restoration when the fire happened. My dad then added something similar happened to the Normandie ocean liner: one of the finest and fastest liners ever, Blue Riband winner, a symbol of French refinery… Caught fire on February 1942 while undergoing conversion to a troopship.
I don’t even remember seeing the inside of Notre-Dame in person, but man, it pains me to see the fire.
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True in part, but it was not at all clear at one point whether the fire could be extinguished before doing massive damage to the core stonework. Old churches are a nightmare for firefighters—lots of wood, in this case dried for over 800 years; lots of air with no fire breaks; and poor access points. Firefighters dared not enter the building during the fire for fear of being crushed by falling timbers (or spires), and dumping water from the air could have collapsed the stone vault between the roof and the nave, which was the one fire-break protecting the church from a much larger conflagration.
The question of restoration (as opposed to a new rebuld) hung in the balance. While stones do not burn, old mortar can, and under sufficient heat stones will crack and/or melt. We think of technology as always marching forward, but some of the technology of building a Gothic cathedral has been lost, and few workers have the skills to even approximate the handicrafts that are the hallmark of such a building. Even this (thankfully) limited loss will present enormous challenges, starting with having to do a thorough assessment of the structural integrity of the standing stonework, removal of all destroyed material for careful salvage, removal of damaged material for restoration, and so forth. Presumably, the structure will be rebuilt as close as possible to the original but using steel or non-flammable composites instead of wood, all of which will require years of plalling and design. My guess is that this work will not be complete twenty years, although the nave may be reopened in a decade or so.
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I visited this incredible place on a school trip.
It sounds like the restoration crowd funding is going well. Amidst the loss, we can hopefully look forward to a sensitive and inspiring new chapter for Notre Dame.
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It’s a little more complicated that’s what they said.
The great organ suffers from the heat and water, some statues were broken and some stained glasses will be disassemble as they need a new stain structure
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I used to live about a kilometer away from Notre Dame. 15-minute walk from my apartment. Spent many a night gazing at it…
I should ask one of my Parisian-dwelling friends about it…
latest i’ve read/heard, is that the French government has decided to rebuild Notre Dame as it was before the fire.
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