Notre-Dame
Four years after the fire that devastated the Parisian landmark, oak trusses, each weighing seven tons, are put in place
Tuesday 11 July 2023 at 3.20pm BST
In April 2019, the world watched as Notre Dame Cathedral burned and the flames, fueled by the ribbed roof – made of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century – roared skywards.
Four years later, the cathedral in Paris rises from the ashes. On Tuesday, the roof trusses for a new roof made of old oak trees set out in two large barges along the Seine. For the operation, the river was closed to other traffic.
There were ‘oohs’ from the crowds of tourists as the first of six wooden triangles, each weighing seven tons, was slowly lifted by crane into the azure and cloudless sky onto the cathedral’s roof. The pieces will be put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle over the next two months.
The rebuilding of the wooden structure, formerly known as la forêt (the forest) because of its size and density, marks a symbolic step in the rebirth of the cathedral, one of the symbols of Paris.
“It’s amazing to see. What an amazing building, even covered with scaffolding,” said Jake, who was on vacation with his family.
The forest formed the cruciform roof that ran the length of the nave and transept above stone vaults. A total of 25 triangular structures, 10 meters high and 14 meters wide at the base, form part of the cathedral’s charpente – its main framework, which is made of old oak trees broken with forged axes of the kind used in the Middle Ages by Hand cut to size and shape were carpenters.
There were “oohs” from the crowds of tourists as the first of six wooden triangles, each weighing seven tons, was slowly lifted by crane. Photo: Teresa Suárez/EPA
The 96-meter-tall tower, added by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1859, is also being reconstructed in its original condition to allay fears that what French President Emmanuel Macron had called a “contemporary gesture” was being included could become. along with other far-fetched plans to turn the roof into a park or swimming pool.
After the blaze, the cathedral, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and immortalized in Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was completely destroyed within 15 to 30 minutes, officials said.
Firefighters fought for 15 hours to prevent the flames from reaching the wooden framework of the Gothic spiers on the west facade. In the event of a fire, there were real fears that the bells, the largest of which rang at the coronation of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and weighs 13 tons, would collapse and sweep the towers down. Much of central Paris was contaminated with lead dust from the building’s destroyed roof.
In the hours after the fire, Macron promised that the 850-year-old cathedral would be rebuilt by 2024. To ensure this, he dispatched a retired military officer, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, a former chief of staff, to the Élysée under Jacques Chirac, in charge of the project. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Flames on the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. Photo: Ian Langsdon/EPA
Tuesday’s operation stirred emotions from Parisians like Bernadette, who witnessed the cathedral burn four years ago. “It is moving to see how the first elements of the roof are put together. I’m glad it’s being rebuilt exactly the way it was. “I really wasn’t sure about Mr. Macron’s contemporary gesture,” she said.
Jean-Louis Bidet, the technical director of the Perrault atelier in Normandy that rebuilt the roof frame, had previously said the parts of la forêt “were put together as if they were in their fixed position on top of the walls “. of Notre Dame” in a trial run at the company’s workshop a few weeks ago. “We assembled them to verify that they are as they should be,” Bidet told French television.
The area around the cathedral has been completely redesigned by a Belgian landscape architect, Bas Smets, who told the Guardian last year he wanted to create a more open and pedestrian-friendly space in the 4,500 square meters surrounding the cathedral. The 50 million euro cost of the landscaping will be funded by Paris City Hall.
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