Skip to main content

Notre-Dame Cathedral renovation update: 3 December 2020

 


The renovation and reconstruction of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris after the destructive fire of 15 April 2019 reached a turning point this week. 

 

The cathedral was undergoing renovations to the roof when the fire occurred, so there was a lot of scaffolding which melted in the fire. This week the removal of the final portions of the melted scaffolding led French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot to declare that the landmark cathedral was saved. This means that crucial protective and stabilisation work can now proceed.

 

Work began in June 2020 to clear away the 200 tonnes of tangled scaffolding tubes that surrounded the cathedral's roof, threatening to destroy the 13thcentury Gothic cathedral.

 

The cathedral walls withstood the intense blaze, but the extensive heat and loss of much of the oak roof framework compromised its structural integrity. The molten scaffolding – about 40,000 metal tubes – was left coated with ash, dust, and debris, and was suspended metres above the cathedral's floor. It was at risk of crashing to the ground.

 

The removal of the melted scaffolding was considered dangerous, with some experts fearing that it could cause more of the Gothic monument to fall down. It was also thought that the scaffolding might have melded to the cathedral in the blaze, and be keeping the walls in place.

 

Jean-Louis Georgelin, the army general overseeing the restoration, confirmed on Tuesday 1 December 2020 that the cathedral had been saved: "The threat this scaffolding posed to the cathedral has been lifted. Now we can tackle the final safeguarding steps." The long phase of securing and consolidating the cathedral will continue until the summer of 2021.

 

Before removing the damaged scaffolding tubes, workers had to enclose them within a new network of scaffolding to ensure that the mangled mesh of tubing would not move. Another metal grid was then erected so that workers could be lowered in by ropes to carefully cut the tubes apart. The collapse of a single piece could have threatened the stability of the entire weakened edifice.

 

Sections were then lifted out by a crane towering 80 metres (260 feet) above the cathedral. In late October 2020, workers were finally able to reach and stabilise a massive beam that threatened to drop into the transept.

 

The renovation work has been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought work on the site to a standstill during France's first Covid-19 lockdown in March and April 2020.

 

In July 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron said the spire, which broke and collapsed during the fire, to spectators’ shock, would be rebuilt to its original form, bringing to a close the controversy over its restoration. President Macron had initially called for a "contemporary" restoration of the spire during the rebuild.

 

President Macron has vowed to have the Notre-Dame Cathedral restored in five years – by 2024, the year that Paris will host the Olympic Games. However, some architects have said that such a massive restoration and reconstruction could take much longer than five years.
















 

MARTINA NICOLLS

Website

Martinasblogs

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Animal Website

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 

 

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).

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more