The Fire at Notre Dame
On 15 April 2019, just before 18:20, a fire broke out beneath the roof of Notre Dame de Paris. Consequently, the spire and the roof collapsed dramatically.
This disastrous event drew an enormous attention from architects all over the world. As a result, many innovative proposals for how it could be restored were created. Because of history, Notre Dame has a monumental value that makes the discussion of how to deal with the damage much more complicated.
CHANGE OVER TIME
During centuries, Notre Dame has gone through many changes.
Some has strengthen the characteristics it is associated with and others destroying historical features. However, changes affect all historic buildings and original parts are rare. For instance, the original spire was deconstructed in 1786 and replaced in the 19th century. In other words, the spire that fell in April was about 200 years old and quite young for Notre Dame’s lifetime.
Figure 1. Fire, (Ouda, 2019). CC BY-SA 4.0
Figure 2. Spire on Fire, (Guillaume, L 2019). CC BY-SA 4.0
Figure 3. Firefighters, (Cangadoba, 2019). CC BY-SA 4.0
Figure 4. View from the river, (Madhurantakam, 2019). CC BY-SA 3.0