Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Macron said Notre Dame will be rebuilt. It will take 5 years. There is no estimate yet about what it will cost. How do you rebuild history?
RosieG

Macron said Notre Dame will be rebuilt. It will take 5 years. There is no estimate yet about what it will cost. How do you rebuild history?

Posted - April 16, 2019
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Responses


  • 6023
    At least there are literally billions of pictures of what it looked like before the fire.
    One of the largest hurdles to restoration, is knowing what it looked like originally.
      April 16, 2019 3:16 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    I don't know how many priceless one-of-a-kind treasures may have been destroyed Walt. Hopefully not a lot! Thank you for your reply and Happy Thursday! :)
      April 18, 2019 12:48 PM MDT
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  • 6023
    According to a report on NPR the other day ... they were within 15-30 minutes of losing the entire structure.
    If the fire personnel hadn't risked their lives getting in the towers, the entire cathedral would be a ruin now.
      April 18, 2019 12:59 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Thank you for that information Walt. I was unaware of that. Wow. Sad but hopeful then?
      April 19, 2019 6:09 AM MDT
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  • 4624
    I'd be very surprised if it CAN be re-built in 5 years.
    Granted, we have tools like cranes that weren't around in the C13th, and with billions donated there will be no limit to the cost of labour.
    But I reckon there'll be furious argument about how to do it.
    All the design specs are recorded to the Nn'th degree by PhD students of architecture and engineering -- no problem there.
    But then some will want to use new technologies to strengthen, like carbon-fibre and titanium laminated beams for the rafters,
    while others will want to reproduce the old oak beams exactly, and there's not a single oak tree left in Europe large enough to produce such beams.
    Maybe a few large enough might still exist in Canada or America - would they be felled and donated? At what cost to the tree species and the natural environment?
      April 17, 2019 2:08 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    What you say is true....no building is worth the cutting down of ancient trees ,more so if the species is endangered....
    Quality timber is not just felled and cut up into beams and planks...many need to left as huge trunks and left to season slowly.....
    I can't envisage it being finished in five years either....:(  
      April 17, 2019 2:46 AM MDT
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  • 6477
    My first thought was for the trees... In the past when they went around chopping them down left, right and centre the world was less damaged than it is now.. there were plenty of ancient woodlands to take the timbers from.. Now that isn't so.. 
      April 18, 2019 11:56 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      April 19, 2019 6:11 AM MDT
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  • 4624
    Yep. 
    The big cathedrals took hundreds of years to build. Notre Dame was started in 1163, finished in 1345.
    So by the time the rafters were being laid, the wood had been seasoned for over a century.

      April 18, 2019 12:40 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    St. Paul's cathedral and Westminster Abbey took more then one hundred years to build.... C W the architect ever saw St. Paul's finished.....
    Salisbury Cathedral in the south of England has the tallest Woden church spire in the world....They decided to raise the spire hight to what it is now and it took an extra 6,500 tons of Oak to achive that... 
    How many trees were felled to do that..
    it took 5,000 oak trees to build HMS Victory plus another 1000 soft wood trees....:( 
      April 18, 2019 1:41 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      April 19, 2019 6:10 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      April 19, 2019 6:11 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      April 19, 2019 6:10 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    Oy vey bookworm! I'm verklempt! You bring up so many valid points my head is spinning! All I know is that I hope it can be rebuilt. Never saw it in person but I feel a very personal loss. Odd I suppose.  Thank you for your reply and Happy Thursday! :)
      April 18, 2019 12:51 PM MDT
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  • 6023
    I imagine they will take cost and upkeep into consideration, more than exact reproduction.

    After all, it's owned by the French Ministry of Culture - but they couldn't even pay for regular/routine maintenance.

    This saw the Archbishop of Paris and the Diocese of Paris create the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris organisation.
    The Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris is a charity that urges people to donate money to go towards the cathedral’s upkeep.

    So I imagine the materials will use new technologies as you say ... but appear to be oak beams {or whatever}.

      April 18, 2019 12:57 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      April 19, 2019 6:12 AM MDT
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  • 2219
    Don't rush. A full analysis of the damage is needed first. 
      April 17, 2019 6:10 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    I read that could take TWO YEARS! Yikes!  Thank you for your reply Malizz and Happy Thursday! :)
      April 18, 2019 12:52 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    Perfectly possible, most of the most important pieces were saved.. Not an easy task but it will be done and should be done imo. It's a thing of beauty and importance.. if we lose value for human's past achievements and beauty then we lose something of ourselves I believe. 
      April 18, 2019 11:54 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    I totally and completely agree with thee Addb. I hope it will be rebuilt. I have no idea how long it will take or what it will cost or if it is even possible but hope the powers that be will try. Thank you for your reply!  :)
      April 18, 2019 12:53 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    If you have an American Express card?  You can buy the priceless.  That is how they advertise it, so it must be true.  Get one today.
      April 18, 2019 11:56 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    That sales pitch would not work with me. But then I don't have the money to buy the priceless . Thank you for your reply Sharon and Happy Thursday to thee! :)
      April 18, 2019 12:54 PM MDT
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