Mass is said: the president faltered on Thursday by definitively putting an end to the idea of a competition of architects for Notre-Dame de Paris that he himself had announced the day after the fire. For the sake of " not further delaying the work ", but also " because a consensus is emerging ", Emmanuel Macron is now said to be in favor of a restoration of the cathedral to the identical. Emmanuel Macron had promised to rebuild a cathedral " even more beautiful " by suggesting that beauty would necessarily be on the side of modernity. Fifteen months later, after heated debates, the president sided with the defenders of heritage and public opinion.
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“ In recent months, he has consulted a lot, historians, architects and experts. He took note of the restoration project written by Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of Notre-Dame, which advocates a return to the Viollet-le-Duc state, it is said in his entourage. We had to move on and decide. We also had to get out of this trap: what is a proposition worth when it is not shared by (almost) anyone?
Thursday afternoon, the members of the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, a consultative and learned body, all spoke out for an identical restoration of the spire. At the opening of the debates, General Georgelin, president of the public establishment of Notre-Dame, had also revealed to them the new intentions of the president. In the morning, the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachot, had also spoken of " a consensus " around the arrow.
Oak frame and lead roof
An emblematic element of the monument and the Ile de la Cité, the latter was not the only one to have disappeared under the flames, on April 15, 2019. Part of the roof and the framework of the 13th century must also be rebuilt. For these two structuring elements, Emmanuel Macron will not give his opinion. " The president leaves it to the experts to decide which materials will be chosen, " adds the Élysée. The Commission asked for an oak frame and argued for a lead roof. There remain the surrounding areas, for which a competition could, this time, be launched, once the idea has been discussed with the Paris City Hall. In the immediate future, a “ construction site house ” will open, a temporary structure in which the works will be explained to the public. It could be located in the courtyard of the Hôtel-Dieu.
Beautiful pages of debates, no doubt less Homeric, will still be written on Notre-Dame. But in 2024, if deadlines are met, the whole world should regain the familiar silhouette of the monument.
