Notre Dame Burns

[Khaldun]

I don't think it would be a bad thing if they add some 21st Century touches. The spire was a romantic 19th Century addition to it the last time it had to be renovated. It depends a little on what they add, of course.

[Teleku]

A twisty water slide from the top of the new spire right down into a big pool of holy water!

[TheWalrus]

I'd convert.

[Sky]

EXTREME BAPTISM

STARRING

JOHN "THE BAPTIST" CENA

[Sir T]

You might laugh but the Greek Orthodox do some extreme baptism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC3GBmbP6As

[Yegolev]

Visited the new Frauenkirche. Along with everything else in central Europe, I advise not being TOO upset at a rebuild. It's going to happen.

[Cyrrex]

The cynic in me wonders if humans are still capable of restoring things in the 21st century in a way that actually measures up to historical standards.  As has already been said, most buildings of this age have already been restored, probably numerous times, but those restores are happening in an age where they had the artistry and devotion to quality that I wonder if we still possess as a species.  In an age of Ikea and Pimp My House, do we still have the capacity to do great things like that?  We probably do, a billion dollars can get a lot done....but I can't stop my mind from going there.

[Chimpy]

France actually has a pretty large population of traditional artisans (one of the upsides of having a society where labor still has some power). The skills exist, there just are not as many people with them. The bigger issue will be people expecting this kind of work to happen quickly.

[IainC]

There are enough thousand year-old buildings in Europe that need pretty much constant maintenance that there are still plenty of firms who can handle sympathetic restoration projects of various scales. Notre Dame is going to be one of the bigger projects (in both scope and public visibility), but there absolutely are still enough people who can fix it up better than the 19th century hacks who patched it up for Napoleon's coronation.

When Ol' Boney was crowned there, the building had in fact already been sold to scrap merchants for demolition and salvage. It was hastily tidied up for the coronation - mostly by hanging stuff over the most egregious holes. It was Victor Hugo who rescued the cathedral, by firstly making it famous in his book, and then organising a public subscription to get it fixed up and returned to its former glory.

[calapine]

Who is Ol'Boney?

[Polysorbate80]

I think he means Napoleon Bonaparte but I’m not sure since I’ve been day-drinking and rewatching Game of Thrones? Everything’s a tad fuzzy 

[Khaldun]

Napoleon, yeah.

[Yegolev]

The cynic in me wonders if humans are still capable of restoring things in the 21st century in a way that actually measures up to historical standards.  As has already been said, most buildings of this age have already been restored, probably numerous times, but those restores are happening in an age where they had the artistry and devotion to quality that I wonder if we still possess as a species.  In an age of Ikea and Pimp My House, do we still have the capacity to do great things like that?  We probably do, a billion dollars can get a lot done....but I can't stop my mind from going there.

Answer is somewhere in the middle.  See if you can dig up pictures of Frauenkirche.  There was a lot of effort made to recreate what was there, but they also realized the value of plate glass.  I'm fine with this since I think grasping tradition should be done loosely.  Else we'd still live in shit and have shit.

[Khaldun]

Restoring old structures to strictly historical standards means restoring them to structural norms that lead to buildings collapsing or failing or to buildings that catch on fire. Fire is the fate of almost all old historical structures, really, even the ones that are mostly stone. So I'm all for modest redesigns that increase structural integrity and modern fire-safety norms.

[calapine]

A really good interactive New York Times article

"Notre-Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew. This is how it was saved."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/07/16/world/europe/notre-dame.html

[Sir T]

Restoring old structures to strictly historical standards means restoring them to structural norms that lead to buildings collapsing or failing or to buildings that catch on fire. Fire is the fate of almost all old historical structures, really, even the ones that are mostly stone. So I'm all for modest redesigns that increase structural integrity and modern fire-safety norms.

Ya, the problem with "we have to restore it to the original state" is that quite often that includes the way the original builders cut corners.

[Yegolev]

When I saw this thread resurface, I thought we were going to be telling jokes about the college football team.