Watching the spire diving into the flames that engulfed Notre Dame this week was a terrible moment for the French, Catholic or otherwise. Global leaders were prompt to express their sympathy, but although it is a tragedy redemption from ashes is possible. In the UK we have had our share of terrible fires, in 1984 a lightning bolt struck York Minster Cathedral and the a destroyed the roof of the South Transept. York Minster was begun in 1230, Notre Dame was started in 1163, in fact the style of architecture that the British call Gothic was born in France twenty years before Notre Dame. Height, light, volume and decorative stone masonry are all features borrowed from France in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.
York Minster’s restoration was complete in 1998. The great fire in the Medieval Hall at Windsor Castle in 1992 collapsed the roof of St George’s Hall, destroyed over 100 rooms, paintings and furniture; that restoration was finished in 1997. This just confirms that President Emanuel Macron’s target of a five-year restoration plan in time for the Paris Olympics is possible.
The cause of the fire is still to be determined, thought to be something to do with the ongoing conservation project,although at the time many were on alert including the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau; hoaxes and misinformation spread on social media.
French billionaires Bernard Arnault and Francois-Henri Pinault, and the Bettencourt Meyers family and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, Cosmetics company L’Oreal, Total oil and gas have all pledged upwards of 100million Euro towards the restoration.President Macron proclaimed a national subscription to help rebuild the cathedral, so far £519million has been pledged by top companies and high net-worth individuals.
Spoilsport socialists and trade unions are criticising donors claiming they want to avoid taxes. When folks spontaneously come forward to rescue a national architectural treasure and spiritual heritage perhaps appreciation is the order of the day.