Rector warns of 50% chance of losing landmark

NOTRE Dame is still so fragile that there is a “50% chance” the Paris landmark might not be entirely saved. Scaffolding installed before this year’s devastating fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument, its rector has said.

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said restoration work is not likely to begin until 2021 – and described his “heartache” at not being able to celebrate Christmas services inside the cathedral this year, for the first time since the French Revolution.

“Today it is not out of danger,” he said.

“It will be out of danger when we take out the remaining scaffolding.”

“Today we can say that there is maybe a 50% chance that it will be saved. There is also 50% chance of scaffolding falling on to the three vaults, so as you can see the building is still very fragile,” he said.

The 12th-century cathedral was under renovation at the time of the accidental April fire, which destroyed its roof and collapsed its spire.

One of the toughest parts of the clean-up effort is cutting down the 50,000 tubes of old scaffolding that criss-crossed the back of Notre Dame.

He estimated that it would take another three years after that to make it safe enough for people to re-enter the cathedral, but that the full restoration will take longer.

French President Emmanuel

Macron has said he wants it rebuilt by 2024, when Paris hosts the Olympic Games, but experts have questioned whether that timeframe is realistic.

Unable to celebrate Christmas in Notre Dame this year, its congregation, clergy and choir decamped to the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church across from the Louvre museum instead.