Hope rebuild finished in five years
PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron yesterday pledged that France would rebuild the firedevastated NotreDame de Paris cathedral, saying he hoped the work would be done in five years and the French people would pull together to repair their national symbol.
Macron devoted a brief primetime televised address to Tuesday’s catastrophic blaze.
‘‘We will rebuild NotreDame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years. We can do it,’’ Macron said.
‘‘It is up to us to convert this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project.’’
Macron visited the site of the fire late on the day of the blaze and promised then to rebuild the cathedral, parts of which date to the 12th century.
The cathedral spire was destroyed and its roof gutted but the bell towers were still standing and many valuable art works were saved after more than 400 firemen worked to contain the blaze, finally quelling it 14 hours after it began.
Billionaires, companies and local authorities were quick to offer donations.
Only 24 hours after the fire started, more than ¤880 million ($NZ1.48 billion) had been pledged, including ¤500 million from the three billionaire families that own France’s giant luxury goods empires: Kering, LVMH and L’Oreal.
Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation, officials said.
The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral’s oak roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire’s timberframed supports. Police began questioning the workers involved, the prosecutor’s office said.
Firefighters examined the facade, with its spectacular 10m filigreed stainedglass rose window still intact. They could be seen walking atop the belfries as police kept the area in lockdown.
Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral’s blackened nave until experts are satisfied its walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound.
Considered among the finest examples of European Gothic architecture, NotreDame is visited by more than 13 million people a year. It sits on an island in the Seine, overlooking the Left Bank hangouts of Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso.
The cathedral is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a dispute between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should finance restoration work to collapsed balustrades, crumbling gargoyles and cracked facades.
It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said the heritage charity Fondation du Patrimoine.
The company carrying out the renovation works when the blaze broke out said it would cooperate fully with the investigation.
‘‘All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures,’’ Julien Le Bras, a representative of family firm Le Bras Freres, said.
Many relics and artworks were saved. At one point, firefighters, policemen and municipal workers formed a human chain to remove the treasures. — Reuters