Notre Dame Cathedral’s spire renovations

Notre Dame Cathedral’s spire renovations – return to Gothic style

The Notre-Dame Cathedral was on fire on 15 April 2019 and the spire toppled to the ground, completely destroyed.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced this week that the spire will be rebuilt in the original 13^thcentury Gothic design, and not in modern style as was rumoured. This was confirmed by France’s national heritage and architecture commission, the CNPA.

Macron would like the restoration of the Notre-Dame Cathedral to be completed by 2024, the year Paris hosts the Olympic Games.

The original spire was built in the 13^thcentury, but it was removed in the late 18^thcentury after damage. Its replacement was designed by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in the mid 19^thcentury.

The current restoration team, led by Jean-Louis Georgelin, touted a modern replacement – a “contemporary gesture.” However, the Cathedral restoration’s chief architect Philippe Villeneuve was in favour of returning it to the 19^thcentury style. The latest decision, this week, is to build the new spire in the original 13^thcentury design.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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