Notre Dame Fire

Ive been watching the news, It's really not good at all.:cry:
 
The fire is devastating. Initial reports say that they've already lost all the stained glass and they are expecting to lose all the wooden supports if they're not already gone. Given how bad the fire is, experts doubt there will be much left afterwards except for the bare stones with all the details melted off. The only positives are the apostle statues that had been removed for renovation a week ago. They have also managed to save all the art and the treasures including the Crown of Thorns.

The Cathedral took 200 years to build and has been around for 800 years. While we have modern means to help with the reparations, it's very likely the work to bring it back will take decades. And it also won't replace a lot of the most iconic pieces, including the Rose Window and the Gargoyle.

Old buildings are notoriously difficult to work with and they suspect it's the renovations themselves that caused the fire in the first place.
 
I think they don't want to say anything that would give birth to dangerous conspiracy theories—and it is most likely that some accident related to the construction did start the blaze—but I imagine at this point they really don't have any idea how it happened.
 
Whilst severe, the damage is less than was feared at times yesterday. That's good, at least.

Edited extra bit: some of the pictures looked horrendous last night.
 
Apparently the spire was added in the 19th century so at least it's probably going to go back to its original state when restored (unless they rebuild the spire). Never been to Notre Dame but went to Chartre and Le Mans cathedral. I love flying buttresses.
 
Alex The G and T said:
Holy Smokes!

Reading down the linked article, I'm dismayed at its state of disrepair. You'd think that such an iconic monument would be better kept.
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Perhaps they are loathe to do too much to it, since maintaining it might involve replacing parts of the brickwork etc.
 
I'm not religious but I'm very grateful the cathedral survived in a much better state than originally feared. It will still take a long time before it's completely restored, but at least it will be restored.

There was also a fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday, but the fire was much smaller and it was contained a lot sooner than the Notre Dame fire. Still, it's been a tough week for holy sites.
 
The problem with upkeep on big old buildings can be that because they are old they get listed and that means they get protected. This can mean that a simple repair becomes complicated because you're limited on what methods and materials you can work with; which might further greatly limit on who you can hire to do the work (who might also have other jobs lined up).

In addition more abnormal types of work can also cost more so it puts the cost for repair up. Plus old things tend to have a habit of all getting old at the same time so everything tends to break at around the same time which, yeah, means a bigger bill. This can be compounded if you've already a load of repairs put on hold because of their cost. And yes this can mean even famous structures end up falling more and more into dilapidation with increased running and upkeep costs that help prevent savings building up to pay for major repairs.

That said considering how iconic it is both as a religious, historical and national icon I'm surprised they didn't have the resources.


The silver lining to the fire might actually be that since so much of the original is lost they might relax some of the restrictions and thus rebuild with a view to more modern materials, methods and the future. So whilst its a disaster today it might actually result in it being in better upkeep tomorrow.



As for what might have caused it there's loads of potential. Heck we live in a very old house and the old wood becomes hard as iron so if you want to, say, drill into it you've got to lubricate the drill soap/candle wax) and drill in short bursts to let the drill cool off and not overheat the bit. This could be as simple as someone drilling and building up enough friction and heat to light the old timber. Once lit (esp if undetected) and it got going woosh - all that old fabric, wood and such is ripe for burning.
 
Overread, with York Minster the scaffolding is always up and it just revolves around the Minster, constantly allowing masons and carpenters to keep everything ship shape.

Kind of ironic that now's a great time to be a medieval-style mason or carpenter. Even 'authentic' leather shoes have a waiting list of a year or two (so says Lindybeige) because there's such demand.
 
France's President says they'll rebuild it, even more beautiful, within 5 years. Corporate donations are already coming in. :)
 
Company donations followed by new fine works of art er advertisement ;)


The only part of it that I question is the 5 years bit, they can hardly have even got a full assessment of the damage let alone made choices on how to rebuild nor the final estimated costs, resources, builders etc.... So I figure ANY time estimation is just a pie in the sky estimation right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see it run way over that or even "never finish" as such but get the bulk of the core work done.
 
Overread said:
Company donations followed by new fine works of art er advertisement ;)


The only part of it that I question is the 5 years bit, they can hardly have even got a full assessment of the damage let alone made choices on how to rebuild nor the final estimated costs, resources, builders etc.... So I figure ANY time estimation is just a pie in the sky estimation right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see it run way over that or even "never finish" as such but get the bulk of the core work done.
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Yeah, five years soundsa bit overly hopeful. Still, it could be done - but would probably double the cost.
 
Five years is definitely hopeful. But the word tonight is that they have 1 BILLION! dollars pledged to restore it. That is amazing and should allow almost any kind of renovation they want to accomplish. I've also heard that they have already put out a "contest?" for the best design for the new spire.
 
Renovation is a good word, Parson.

Given the competition, it won't be a restoration so much as a reboot. :-(

I just hope they don't make it twinkle like the Tour Eiffel.
 
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