Architects attack Macron’s five-year plan for Notre-dame

MORE than 1,000 international architectural experts have urged Emmanuel Macron to drop his insistence on rebuilding Notre-dame within five years.

Some 1,170 leading academics and architects from France, Britain, the United States and other countries signed an open letter in Le Figaro newspaper yesterday pleading for the French government to allow time to decide how to tackle the restoration of the cathedral after it was gutted by fire earlier this month.

Rushing ahead with a plan that could prove ill-conceived would be disastrous, they warned.

“We know that the political calendar requires quick action, we know how much a disfigured Notre-dame affects the image of France,” the letter says.

“[But] the challenge of these works goes far beyond political terms of office, beyond generations, and we will be judged by how we respond.”

Critics say the president’s five-year plan is motivated partly by his wish for the cathedral to be rebuilt in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and for progress to be visible before his term of office ends in 2022. But many architects say setting a time-limit is unrealistic.

Philippe Plagnieux, a professor of art history, said: “The risk is that people who haven’t got enough experience in restoring historic monuments will be called in to get the job done quickly.”

Alexandre Gady, a Sorbonne professor who signed the letter, criticised the plan to launch an international architectural competition to redesign the cathedral’s roofline.

“This has naturally allowed all sorts of architects pining for fame to blow their own trumpets off the back of the cathedral,” he said.