World Competition for a New Spire That is France

Published April 19th, 2019 - 08:48 GMT
Onlookers cried out in anguish as the spire of the cathedral toppled in the inferno which swept ferociously over the roof of Notre Dame on Monday evening (AFP)
Onlookers cried out in anguish as the spire of the cathedral toppled in the inferno which swept ferociously over the roof of Notre Dame on Monday evening (AFP)
Highlights
The Culture Ministry's fire expert, Jose Vaz de Matos, told reporters that part of the structure is to be taken down 'to limit the movement' of the stone. 

A Paris official says part of the support structure around Notre Dame Cathedral's rose windows is to be dismantled to prevent further damage following the massive fire - as the French Prime Minister revealed an international competition to design a new spire.

Police officials said that the triangular structure above the central rose window is leaning eight inches (20 centimeters) forward toward the street since the fire. 

The Culture Ministry's fire expert, Jose Vaz de Matos, told reporters that part of the structure is to be taken down 'to limit the movement' of the stone. 

De Matos said the main risk to the cathedral is the gables above the rose windows, which provide crucial support to the stained glass masterpieces.

He said the structure is particularly exposed to the wind, and the overall structure remains fragile. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he will open the redesign of the of Notre Dame cathedral's historic spire to architects.

He said: 'The international competition will allow us to ask the question of whether we should even recreate the spire as it was conceived by Viollet-le-Duc.

'Or whether, as is often the case during the evolution of heritage, we should endow Notre-Dame with a new spire that reflects the techniques and challenges of our era.'

A day after the bells rang at Westminster Abbey in support of France, cathedral bells rang out across France on Wednesday evening in support of Notre-Dame, at the exact time a devastating blaze struck the 850-year-old gothic masterpiece on Monday.

The bells of Marseille's Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica were among those rang at 6.53 pm (5.53pm GMT). Earlier the Conference of French Bishops said on Twitter that all cathedral bells nationwide would ring in 'solidarity with the diocese of Paris'.

Also Wednesday evening, Brigitte Macron, attended Mass at Saint-Sulpice Church, in Parish with her husband and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Afterwards she said: 'Everything bled, everything bled, there were four stages, first the stage of shock when we learned what was happening, then when we arrived on location and it was fear and anxiety that everything would crumble, around 11 p.m, hope, because at 11 p.m the towers were there, and then enormous gratitude towards all the firemen and all the men that battled the fire, for their courage and perseverance. It was an absolutely incredible moment. Thank you.'

Earlier in the day, firefighter spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters that the rose windows are 'in good condition' but that 'there is a risk for the gables that are no longer supported by the frame.'

He said firefighters took down statues inside the gables above the windows to protect them, and took care not to spray water too hard on the delicate stained glass. 

Another fire official, Philippe Demay, said the towers of the catherdral would have fallen down if firefighters hadn't deployed massive equipment and acted swiftly. 

Demay denied there was any delay and said firefighters acted as fast as they could during the extremely difficult operation, saying that the towers would no longer be standing 'if we hadn't put heavy equipment in place.'

But questions are emerging over Notre Dame's  fire-prevention measures, which proved woefully inadequate having not been updated for fear of altering the cathedral's historic design or damaging the the fragile structure. 

Pierre Housieaux, president of the Paris Historical Association, said there was a 'systematic refusal to install anything electrical' within 'the forest' of beams. 'Everyone knew that the attic was the most fragile part,' he told the NY Times. 

While other ancient European landmarks had been updated to include firestops - passive fire protection measures used to seal openings and joints in a wall or floor and impede the spread of flames - or sprinkler systems, these were intentionally not fitted in Notre Dame - leaving it to the mercy of building work that began in 1163.  

It also appears that practice fire evacuation drills had not been conducted as the organist who was playing at evening mass when the fire broke out said people didn't immediately react when the alarm rang because 'nobody knew exactly what it was because it was the first time that we heard it inside the cathedral.'

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Johann Vexo says as a priest was reading from the Bible at the time, and although people started to leave the building some, including Vexo, later came back.

The organist says he spent another 20 minutes inside the cathedral, chatting to colleagues, before finally leaving at about 6.45pm local time on Monday night.

Vexo says he didn't see fire or smoke and 'really thought that it was just something not working good or just a mistake, or whatever.'

Notre Dame's spectacular and unique great organ seemingly escaped largely intact from the blaze that destroyed the roof and spire.

There was particular fear for the rooster, because it contains religious relics including one of the 70 thorns of the Holy crown of Jesus Christ, and remnants linked to Saint Denis, the Christian martyr and former bishop of Paris, and Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of the French capital.

According to cathedral guides, the rooster had acted as a 'spiritual lightening rod' to protect the Notre Dame faithful.

Jacques Chanut, the president of the French Building Federation, shared a picture of the damaged rooster on Twitter.

The sculpture of the cockerel - which is an unofficial symbol of France - was recovered on Tuesday by a restorer picking through the debris. 

A ministry spokesman said the rooster had been handed over to religious officials, without elaborating.

An official separately told Le Parisien newspaper that the statue was 'battered but apparently restorable'.

The official was quoted saying that, when the 19th-century spire had collapsed into the cathedral, the rooster statue had detached 'and fallen on the good side... away from the seat of the fire'.

Because of the statue's damage, it was not yet possible to verify if the Crown of Thorns fragment or the other relics were still inside, the official said. 

Meanwhile French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the government will take a series of measures to secure the financing and accelerate the renovation work. 

Speaking after a special Cabinet meeting dedicated to Notre Dame, Philippe said the government will present a bill next week to ensure 'transparency and good management' during the reconstruction.

He said one measure will aim at ensuring that all donations actually end up going to Notre Dame. The bill will also allow French ordinary citizens to get special tax cuts if they make a donation.

Another measure will enable the French state to adapt legal procedures in order to ease the reconstruction.  

On Wednesday, Philippe also announced a global architects' competition to rebuild the spire of the cathedral. 

Philippe said the competition aims at 'giving Notre Dame a spire adapted to technologies and challenges of our times.'

President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he wants the cathedral to be rebuilt in five years, with Philippe adding today: 'This is obviously a huge challenge, a historic responsibility.' 

Yesterday evening, fresh images of the wreckage were released showing the aisle piled high with charred and twisted timbers. 

Yet it could have been so very much worse. The 850-year-old towers which stand guard over the entrance and the immortal bells hanging within are in one piece. So, too, is some of the stained glass. 'Our Lady' lives on, bloodied but unbowed.

At the same time, the fire had produced another miracle of sorts. This avowedly secular country suddenly seemed to have rediscovered its sense of the spiritual yesterday, if only for a few hours.

'I have never known so many people talking openly about God, about religion and saying prayers in public,' said caterer Marie-Astrid d'Arras. 'So many people have become Catholic once again.'    

Underpinning all this talk of divine intervention was a single image which first appeared of the golden crucifix still shining at the altar within the sacred site.

Even avowed atheists took to social media yesterday to profess how moved they had been by this poignant symbol of defiance.

Several Anglophile Parisians said it reminded them of that famous wartime image of St Paul's Cathedral standing tall during the Blitz.

For the authorities, there were more earthly considerations, notably finding out how this had all happened in the first place. France might be praying a little louder than usual. But it is also pretty angry, too.

Macron cleared yesterday's Cabinet meetings of all other business to focus exclusively on Notre Dame. Such is the mystical hold this 12th Century Gothic masterpiece has on the national psyche. 

A key issue will be the cost. Under French law, the ownership of the cathedral rests with the State but the French taxpayer received a handsome head start yesterday when two of the country's richest families pledged 300million euros before breakfast.

On Wednesday the figure has soared to an astonishing one billion euros. 

As stories began to emerge of the gallantry of the firefighters – and of a particularly heroic priest seen running into the inferno to retrieve some of Notre Dame's treasures – messages arrived from world leaders, including one from the Queen. 

'Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral,' she told President Macron. 'My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the cathedral and all of France at this difficult time.' 

Tomorrow, she will attend her beloved Royal Maundy service at St George's Windsor, the traditional prelude to Easter Sunday.

There will be no Easter at Notre Dame, for the first time in nearly nine centuries. There was also a message yesterday from the Prince of Wales. 'I realise only too well what a truly special significance the cathedral holds at the heart of your nation,' he told Macron.

'But also for us outside France it represents one of the greatest architectural achievements of Western civilisation. It is a treasure for all mankind.'

By way of consolation, he alluded to the Royal Family's own experience of the 1992 fire which ravaged much of Windsor Castle. 'Our hearts go out to you and the people of France more than you can ever know, especially in view of our experience with the devastating fire at Windsor Castle 27 years ago,' the Prince went on.

It was the Prince, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, who led the five-year, £40million rebuilding programme. It more than restored Windsor to its former glory.

Macron would be well advised to pick up the phone to the Queen or her eldest son for a few useful tips on how best to resurrect a medieval treasure.

Other world leaders expressing their solidarity yesterday included Pope Francis, who announced he was placing the Vatican's heritage experts at France's disposal. 

After all, one of his predecessors, Pope Alexander III, was here to see the foundation stone laid in 1163. 

The outpouring of international goodwill only added to the emotions encountered in Paris yesterday, including young men playing mournful recitals on the cello. 

Here and there, nuns broke into song or prayer. Gawping crowds encircling the cathedral's island site on either side of the Seine filled miles of pavement and brought traffic to an escargot-style crawl.

In front of Notre Dame itself, a succession of sombre politicians talked of a need for national unity. After months of civil disobedience by the anti-Macron 'gilets jaunes' movement, there is a sense that the appetite for organised dissent has waned in the last 24 hours.  

'There is a spirit which lives inside and above this building, one you don't find in, say, the Eiffel Tower,' said Ambrose Laurent, secretary of France's Conference of Bishops.

Then the bishops issued a joint statement saying every cathedral in France would ring its bells today at the precise time when Monday's fire broke out.

Sitting with his drawing pad next to the Seine, a retired steel executive Robert Gest, 72, sketched the cathedral. 

He said he wants to leave it to his grandchildren as a reminder of what happened. 'There has been so much bashing of the church and religion in this country that perhaps this experience will make people think about it a little more,' he said. 'After all, the great cross is still there.'   

This article has been adapted from its original source.

 

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