Macron hopes that France will rebuild Notre Dame in 5 years

It can be done.

Of course Macron would seek this time to edge away from ‘politics’

I look forward tobseeing him with a broom in hand sweeping-up, aiding the rebuilding...

Get the yellow vests to rebuild it.

I doubt Notre Dame will ever come back. The EU is going to turn it into a memorial and use it as an excuse to further their agenda. Macron has about as much leadership as a boiled egg. There is no way he can navigate these waters without making a mess out of the whole thing.

Well it took over 100+ years to build, so I'm guessing 5 to restore might be quite a few decades off. Just how many medieval construction workers are available. It can be done but can it be done well? Not in 5 years I would say.

"We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said.

Words of wisdom. Applicable to many things.

I’m reading that something like 1,300 trees were used to build the roof, big oak trees which cannot be found in France any more. In this day and age, not sure if using a similar large amount of trees to rebuild the roof would be acceptable to certain folks. Can’t see much of the wood anyway, since the roof was covered with something, so maybe it is a good idea to use something a bit more resistant to fire.

"We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it," Macron said. "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."

Oh dear, I hope they won't convert this into something inclusive that combines all the different religions.

Anyway, I hope they will look at whether this incident is linked to the many recent church fires in France.

BTW, those tennis balls on the tripod are really classy.

@cricky

Just how many medieval construction workers are available.

There actually are stonemasons and other craftsmen who are familiar with the construction methods of medieval structures like Notre-Dame de Paris. It’s only a matter of the call going out. And what an opportunity for those craftsmen!

@zichi

The Catholic Church has a wide range of believes and religious philosophies including devils, miracles, saints so how can this be anything like just a simple fire.

The Catholic Church is more likely to attribute the fire to some accident if that is what the investigation indicates rather than some other-worldly intervention. Ask any Jesuit.

@Kniknaknokkaer

Amazing original construction

Like Roman builders the cathedral architects overbuilt. Good thing.

@cricky: if I am not wrong, you were the one who said they could need one or two centuries to restore the Cathedral. You look very afraid, but as I already told you, the Europeans own the know how to do these things. The structure was saved, so they can do it.

I don't know if this can help you to understand, but I want to speak you about St. Francis Basilica's volta destroyed in 1997 earthquake. In this case, also some human lives were lost. This video, called "Assisi, the impossible restoration", shows how the workers collected about 100,000 pieces to restore the volta, assembling them like a puzzle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8bbufGyUs0

The restoration is complete. Have some faith in humanity, when something isn't completely destroyed, you can save it.