Telegraph- Inside the awe-inspiring new Notre-Dame, the pride of Paris once again
Even before dozens of head of state, world dignitaries and monarchs were ushered into Notre-Dame for Saturday’s great reopening ceremony, five years after the devastating fire, The Telegraph was taken on a tour of the Gothic masterpiece whose epic reconstruction at a cost of £800 million is the pride of France.
That was an amazing restoration. My only surprise was that they were able to find the craftsmen and materials to do the restoration.
P.S. Whoever it was right after the fire who said, “That’ll buff right out” was wrong.
Agreed. And in the process of restoration, they removed a large amount of the dirt and soot which had accumulated over previous centuries. At one time in the 1950s, Paris had an atmosphere utterly filthy from unfiltered coal smoke. And for a century prior to that, most of Paris’s residential and commercial heating had come from coal furnaces.
It now looks as clean and gleaming as it did when it was completed in 1345.
I toured it in 1995 and it was spectacular but dark compared to how clean and bright it is now. I would like to have heard that organ.
This is on a very much smaller scale but similar in the restoration. The beautiful St. John’s Anglican church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia was badly damaged by fire in 2001. When we visited ten years ago we were given a tour of its restoration. Wonderful craftsmanship, were told the congregation found tradespeople coming from all over the county and province to provide their expertise resulting in a small masterpiece. One fascinating thing about the building that emerged:
“During reconstruction a mystery emerged concerning numerous stars painted within the Church, and which subsequently garnered the interest of international media and astronomers, as the remarkable star scene over the apse may convey the night-sky on the first Christmas (some 2 millennia ago) as seen from Lunenburg.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Anglican_Church_(Lunenburg)
https://www.astronomy.com/science/ancient-stars-shine-on/
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/PG4Y5H/interior-of-the-historic-st-johns-anglican-church-at-64-townsend-street-in-lunenburg-nova-scotia-PG4Y5H.jpg
Euro-Disney is back!
No reflection on who built this place and why of course – that would be racist!
Inquiring minds want to know. Why could a project of this magnitude be completed with the work of thousands of highly specialized trades (and remember this is highly unionized France) and materials for the price of a couple F-22 Raptors, or five F-35’s
Great! Now no more Muslims with torches allowed in.
l helped rig an integrated alarm system in a church and church property in Grimsby ON waaaaay back mid 80s.
the minister told us the savings on insurance paid for the improvement.
just a thought, did ‘they’ put in a proper alarm system AND fire suppression system (which would not cause more damage than it prevented)? jist askin’ . . . . .
Did you not see the picture of the “misting control panel which is part of the new [fire] safeguards”?
The head restoration architect said they put in both.
See how beautiful it is!
What have we learned? Burn more churches so they can be rebuilt shiny and new. Burn down Christianity and 6uild it 6ack 6etter. Eh, indigenous Canadians? … Eh, Religion of Peacemaking Terrorists?
The images of President Trump in the building were illuminating as well, so many of the upper echelon of society were there, and all of them surrounded by this newly rebuilt cathedral, and all with their eyes on the President-elect.
https://x.com/Trump_Fact_News/status/1865566146776187151
You gotta laugh??
https://x.com/cptfomo/status/1865538115558883738
http://www.theconservativetreehouse.com/?s=TrumpatnotreDame
Opera singer stuns audience with her rendition of Amazing Grace
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865499228639789130
So many of France’s churches are attacked by Muslims, every year, now maybe they will protect this one more carefully.
That’s going to make one fine looking mosque one day.
Course they are going to have to get rid of all those pews.
I hate to be a downer, but that altar is plain ugly, as were the Archbishop’s vestments (I saw a quote about them being ‘Uno reverse card design”)!
Just as well that rulers of France aren’t crowned there!!! And cue the strident and resentful cries that it should have been made a mosque…
And yes, the temptation for muslims to try again – and be more successful next time – will be extreme.
I understand that there is no evidence that the usual suspects had a hand in this. Apparently, the blame is on careless workers and their smokes. Another woke cover up? Or just a f#ck up by workers?
I remember the day this happened.
The official line spouted by the officials and the media was that “arson is not suspected.”
While the flames were still burning, and not one fire inspector had set foot in the place.
The safe, approved conclusion had already been reached.
Can you imagine if they did declare this was a Muslim attack? I could possibly move up the coming civil war by decades.
Thankfully a devoted follower of architect I.M. Pei wasn’t allowed anywhere near it. Very nice.
Pro tip – Keep the Bic carrying, pyjama clad, islamists off the roof.
Yes, very obsessed with pyramids and triangles.
https://worldarchitecture.org/article-links/ecpvn/the-12-most-significant-projects-of-i-m-pei.html
Ugh!
I wonder how long it will be before the Muslims set it on fire again