INSPIRING!
Global contest to rebuild the toppled tower
WHEN Eugene Viollet-leDuc rebuilt Notre Dame’s 90metre spire in the 19th century, he created a jewel in neo-Gothic architecture – and a Paris icon.
Now a new architect will be given the chance to make a modern mark on the cathedral’s imposing roofline.
French prime minister Edouard Philippe said yesterday that the country will hold an international architectural competition to redesign the spire, which fell during Monday’s inferno.
But in a move which could raise eyebrows among architectural purists, he left the door open for a contemporary design.
The original 13th-century spire was rebuilt to similar specifications by Frenchman Viollet-le-Duc after he won a competition in 1844. Mr Philippe said: ‘Should we rebuild the spire envisaged and built by Viollet-le-Duc under the same conditions... or give Notre Dame a new spire adapted to the technologies and the challenges of our times?’
Questions were also raised over the timeline as donations poured in to restore the spire, vault and two-thirds of the cathedral’s roof.
President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted it restored within five years, ready for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
But French conservation architect Pierluigi Pericolo said it could take three times as long. ‘No less than 15 years... it’s a colossal task,’ he said, before adding it could take ‘two to five years’ alone to check the stability of the landmark. He said: ‘It’s a fundamental step and very complex because it’s difficult to send workers into a monument whose vaulted ceilings are swollen with water.
‘The end of the fire doesn’t mean the edifice is totally saved.’
During the restoration efforts, part of the cathedral will need to be dismantled to prevent the building suffering a devastating large-scale collapse.
Fire chiefs yesterday revealed that the three stained-glass rose windows – which survived the fire and are among Notre Dame’s most famous features – are particularly at risk. Experts are planning to remove part of the stonework around the windows to prevent the walls from being blown down in high winds, after their supporting structures were destroyed in the disaster.
In addition, 60 firefighters have been stationed at the site to provide round-the-clock protection in case the fire reignites.
Fire chiefs yesterday told how they battled for nine hours to bring the inferno under control. One expert said Notre Dame would have burned to the ground in a ‘chain-reaction collapse’ had firefighters been slower to respond.
Philippe Demay, deputy chief of the Paris Fire Brigade, said: ‘From the moment the roof was gone, we realised that we could not easily stop the fire.
‘It’s clear that if we had not been so fast, the two towers would have fallen, that’s a certainty.’
A fire alarm first sounded at 6.20pm on Monday during Mass, and firefighters arrived ten minutes later – but found no sign of a fire. One report yesterday claimed a computer bug in the cathedral’s fire prevention system sent officers to the wrong location.
The crews were still in the building when another alarm went off at 6.43pm. They discovered a fire in the oak beams under the cathedral’s roof, but were unable to put it out. Some 400 firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control by dawn on Tuesday.