If you look at this blog often, you might remember that I've recently posted many photos of La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris that I've taken over the past 20 years. Here's a set from April 1, 2013. They're in chronological order, unedited. I was in Paris, on my way to North Carolina, and was walking from my hotel to a subway station to catch a train out to the airport. This morning, one of the Paris newspapers, Libération, carries this banner headline on page 1: Notre Drame.
When you've spent time in Paris, you've probably rushed, strolled, sauntered, and even driven past Notre-Dame hundreds if not thousands of times. I first saw it in 1970. I must have gone inside, but I don't even remember. It was overwhelming to a small-town American at age 20. The last time I actually walked around inside the cathedral was in 2007, when my sister and a friend were visiting France for the first time and I was showing them around. I'm so glad I went inside then. There are photos here and here. Walt pointed out a minute ago that we might not live long enough to see the restoration completed.
I thought exactly the same. I'm 60 this year. Maybe 20 or 30 years to restore it. I hope live to see it. It's a very sad time.
ReplyDeleteWalt and I climbed the stairs and walked on that roof... back in 1988, I believe it was. It's hard to believe it burned in just an hour or two. One hour of flames, one decade's work to rebuild. Two hours of flames, two decades. I wonder.
DeleteBased on my experience of similar tragic fires I'd say the restoration will take about 10 years. It will provide an exceptional opportunity to train a new generation of conservators and artisans.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are right, Susan. What they're saying on news reports is "decades." It won't be easy working on such a project square in the center of crowded, congested Paris.
DeleteThe cathedral in Nantes suffered a similar fire in 1972. Most of the restoration and rebuilding was done in 2008 — nearly 40 years later. That was after restoration work after bombings in 1944 took 30 years. Susan, your estimate of 10 years for rebuilding seems unrealistic. All the controversy over what should be done, what can be done, and then the fund-raising. Sheesh.
DeleteThe Fondation du Patrimoine is on the case already for fundraising. There will be insurance and quite a few millions already pledged. Similar disasters that required rebuilds such as Uppark in England, Windsor Castle, the Hotel de Ville in La Rochelle all took less than 10 years.
DeleteSusan, you always seem so authoritative. Your experience is surely vast, but still. Nobody knows how long it will take to rebuild and restore Notre-Dame de Paris. Let's just live with that uncertainty. Admit that you don't know, for once.
DeleteI heard tonight that Macron wants it rebuilt in 5 years!
DeleteSorry, that should be within 5 years.
DeleteQuelle tristesse de voir ces flammes hier soir et ce regret de ne pas y être entrée plus souvent... elle faisait tellement partie du décor !
ReplyDeleteMoi non plus je ne la reverrais certainement pas restaurée...
On ne sait pas. On peut toujour espérer. La vie de nos jours semble être une longue série de catastrophes. Mais il faut rester optimiste.
DeleteDefinately tragic, but you know Frauenkirche Dresden was completely destroyed towards the end of WW2 but after lying in ruins for decades was rebuilt in about 10 years...and actually rebuilding was gained with the help of an advanced French Computer modelling system CATIA...probably by now even more advanced. So take heart!!
ReplyDeleteTout est possible. Et on verra ce qu'on verra, si on vit assez longtemps.
DeleteThank you for sharing your wonderful photos. I was reading your blog in 2007 but don't think I saw your Notre Dame photos in October. My husband had died in late September. I am hoping the restoration will be finished in ten or fifteen years. There will be money for it and also the will to do it soon. But it was a heartbreaking tragedy yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIt was both moving and discouraging yesterday. It all happened so fast, and to a monument that seemed eternal.
DeleteThank you for this. We are so sad.
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame is the first place I go every time I’m in Paris, the last time (the last...) in May 2017. There are few places in the world that I love as much as Notre Dame.
I wonder myself if I will return to Paris one day. Probably, but I don't know.
DeleteHeartbreaking. Have you seen Kerouac's photos on Any Port in a Storm?
ReplyDeleteJocelyn
No. Thanks for the tip.
DeleteYour photos are comforting to see. My first visit to Notre Dame was in 1961 when I was 15. I remember being in the little park behind ND when Linda came to Paris. Maybe you were with us then.
ReplyDeleteI remember that too.
DeleteWe didn't go in the last time we visited Paris but we walked around it. I went in when I first saw it in 1974, and I remember being struck by the black and white floors and of course by the magnificent rose windows. May this treasure rise again. Cathedrals sometimes take centuries to build, so it might be decades in the rebuilding, but I'm glad it will happen. Yesterday was so emotional.
ReplyDeleteIt was emotional for me, that's for sure.
DeleteGreat photos Ken. Oh that spire was beautiful. The first time I saw it in the 1970s I remember the facade being dark or blackened from the years of oxidation or dirty air. Don't know if anyone else remembers this. Years later, after it had been cleaned, we visited at Christmas time and there was a large tree in front, all trimmed in red. She was glorious then.
ReplyDeleteI saw Paris for the first time in 1963 at age 16, and the buildings were (to me) a beautiful and mysterious black. In 1987, on my next visit, most important buildings had been washed to reveal their natural bright golden color. It was a shock and struck me as loud and raw. But the lovely gold has grown on me.
DeleteI saw Paris in 1961 when I was 15. I had the same experience, Chris and Diogenes when I saw them after cleaning.
DeleteLong ago, for my birthday, my husband took me to Paris and we stayed in a a sweet little hotel on Ile St Louis ...we walked to Notre Dame every day .. just because ...
ReplyDeleteI haven’t started processing this yet. Quoi faire...is that what I mean? Je ne sais quoi faire...dire...
ReplyDelete