Is Paris Burning?

[Fussbudget]

I realise this is maybe not the right thread for this at this time, but as it happens I think most Gothic cathedrals look hideous. York Minster is pretty nice, mind.

Its age isn't why it's good.

I don't know about 'good', but Notre-Dame's age and history are what makes it important, much more than just its looks. If a full-scale replica of it in Vegas had burned down, I somehow doubt the impact would have been quite the same.

[ursus arctos]

Fussbudget just casually dropping Ship of Theseus metaphysics is sheer class.

[San Bernardhinault]

In this case it's just replacing a few tiles on the roof, so it's definitely the same building.

[Fussbudget]

Understood. But that will certainly be the goal. Nobody is going to have heart for some 'contemporary interpretation', now way, no how. Imagine if the White House burned down (again). They'd build a replica that was accurate to the nail head. National psyche would demand it. Same of the Notre Dame. Any less will be seen as a blaspheme and all that business.

Of course they would, that's such an American thing to do.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Will they stick up another spire, do you reckon?

[Lang Spoon]

I never liked the spire, even afore knowing it was a 19th cent French equivalent of Pugin whimsical shite, maybe just leave that out completely, or build it modern leaving the interior "intact".

[George]

Wasn't the Cathedral's interior much more ornate - or at least colourful - prior the vandalism and neglect of the revolutionary era?

[Lang Spoon]

I'm guessing that's like U.K. cathedrals stripped of paint and the likes in the reformation. Or indeed how Greek and roman temples and statues as they were originally intended would look like an Australian's nightmare to our eyes used to uncoloured marble and stone.

[Fussbudget]

I never liked the spire, even afore knowing it was a 19th cent French equivalent of Pugin whimsical shite, maybe just leave that out completely, or build it modern leaving the interior "intact".

I would probably just leave it with a burnt hole in it and no roof, but that's obviously not going to happen.

[Bruno]

I realise this is maybe not the right thread for this at this time, but as it happens I think most Gothic cathedrals look hideous. York Minster is pretty nice, mind.


I don't know about 'good', but Notre-Dame's age and history are what makes it important, much more than just its looks. If a full-scale replica of it in Vegas had burned down, I somehow doubt the impact would have been quite the same.

What I said was that the age of Gothic architecture isn't why it's good. I get that Notre Dame's age is part of its significance. You can reduce the replica idea to "Vegas" if you want, but I think that's a different thing entirely.

[Fussbudget]

In what way is it different?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Understood. But that will certainly be the goal. Nobody is going to have heart for some 'contemporary interpretation', now way, no how. Imagine if the White House burned down (again). They'd build a replica that was accurate to the nail head. National psyche would demand it. Same of the Notre Dame. Any less will be seen as a blaspheme and all that business.

I don't neccesarily agree. That would certainly be the North American approach, but France, at least in the past, approached this type of event differently. André Malraux isn't around anymore but I'd imagine some of the same spirit lingers in government. They may see it as an opportunity born out of tragedy.

[Bruno]

There would never be a full-scale replica of it in Vegas, there'd be a half-size badly drawn cartoon version. Restoring the original to look like it did is plainly different from that.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Coincidentally, here's Macron's latest. If you can decipher it, there's a suggestion that a straight reno isn't being suggested.

“We will rebuild Notre-Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it,”

“It is up to us to convert this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project.”

[Fussbudget]

I don't neccesarily agree. That would certainly be the North American approach, but France, at least in the past, approached this type of event differently. André Malraux isn't around anymore but I'd imagine some of the same spirit lingers in government. They may see it as an opportunity born out of tragedy.

Yes I agree. In a way, I think 'national psyche' (as mentioned by WOM) is almost irrelevant in this case because the building is of huge importance to many people around the world beyond just French people, so the pressure probably will be to rebuild it as it was. If it was a purely national monument not so famous outside France (say, Chartres cathedral), I'm really not sure that would be the case.

[Bruno]

I want it completed on my watch, is what he wanted to say.

[Lang Spoon]

His ego must be unbearable. I do hope he crashes and burns like Trudeau, except what will fill the void looks scary.

[ursus arctos]

Please tell me that you haven't just noticed . . .

The politics of this are weird.

Anne Hidalgo (the Socialist mayor of Paris) went out of her way last night to praise the Sapeurs-Pompiers for rescuing the "relics" (which she identified by name notwithstanding the fact that she surely cannot believe in them).

[anton pulisov]

Giant Californian redwoods, growing up through the middle.

[Kevin S]

Not sure how that could go well, given that most of the Gothic structure is intact. Unity is a first principal of design for a good reason.

My local 12th century cathedral's central tower collapsed in the 14th century. And the resulting blend of Romanesque and Gothic elements from its replacement is probably one of the reasons why it's so well-known. I mean, you probably don't want to stick the Shard on top of Notre-Dame but fusion is possible.

(Ely's octagon tower, incidentally, is another one of those Gothic structures that couldn't be repeated today because all the really big old trees are gone.)

Chapeau to the pompiers. Hell of a defensive effort from the lads to keep the score down.

[ursus arctos]

If only PSG had them in Barcelona . . .

[Hot Pepsi]

Understood. But that will certainly be the goal. Nobody is going to have heart for some 'contemporary interpretation', now way, no how. Imagine if the White House burned down (again). They'd build a replica that was accurate to the nail head. National psyche would demand it. Same of the Notre Dame. Any less will be seen as a blaspheme and all that business.

I would hope that we wouldn’t rebuild the White House that way.

[WOM]

Dude...

[Hot Pepsi]

Or not at all. Let the president find a rental in DC that they can afford on their salary and see how the real world works.

[ursus arctos]

This is promising/

The French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has announced an international architecture competition to rebuild the spire of Notre DameCathedral.

The 93-metre spire collapsed on Monday in a fire that began at its base and spread through the cathedral’s ribbed roof, made up of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century.

Philippe said the competition aimed to give “Notre Dame a spire adapted to techniques and challenges of our times.” He said authorities had no estimation yet of the total cost of the renovation work.