The repair and renovation needed by Notre Dame Cathedral after last year’s fire will be a long process, and can’t be rushed, according to Jean-Louis Georgelin, the French general who’s been put in charge of the project.
In a report last week to a parliamentary commission, he said that workers are still securing the structure so that next month work can begin on removing about 40,000 pieces of scaffolding, totaling about 200 tons, from the roof and other areas of the building. The building also needs to be cleared of the lead and lead dust left from the destruction of the lead roof.
Only then, he said, can real decisions be made about how to rebuild the cathedral. Different proposals have been put forward by engineers, artists and politicians, some of whom want to restore it just as it was before the fire and others who want more radical ‘modern’ designs. And there are those who want to restore the appearance, but using modern methods and materials.
Just after the fire, French Pres. Macron declared that the cathedral would be restored and open by the time the 2024 Olympics open in Paris. That announcement was greeted with skepticism, and worries over a shoddy rush job to meet a deadline. While Georgelin did not rule out a 2024 date, the import of his report is that it is highly unlikely.
