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Notre Dame

Discussion in 'Watford' started by colognehornet, Apr 15, 2019.

  1. colognehornet

    colognehornet Well-Known Member

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    Heartbreaking scenes in Paris. The work of thousands of workmen and 800 years of history and heritage disappearing in minutes. Whatever people's views on politics are, all Europeans are brought together as one family by this. RIP to 800 years of history, contemplation, worship and devotion.
     
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  2. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    The sky is still lit up by it. Tragic.
     
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  3. PGFWhite

    PGFWhite Well-Known Member

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    Major buildings have major fires but still survive. It may take decades/centuries to restore but let’s hope it’s feasible.
     
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  4. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    There are unconfirmed reports that Notre Dame’s three medieval rose windows – la rosace ouest (1225) la rosace nord (1250) la rosace sud (1250) – have exploded in the intense heat.
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    la rosace sud
     
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  5. Ah heck. They were talking about the stained glass windows exploding too. It's utterly devastating. The fact it's happened during Holy Week just makes it all the sadder.
     
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  6. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Tonight President Macron went to Notre-Dame to meet the clergy, firefighters, and local residents. An immediate reaction that can be compared with the reaction of the UK PM after the Grenfell Tower fire.
    It looks tonight that the main structures will have been saved, but many historical items are likely to have been lost.
    As you drive around France you will see signs that tell you how far you are from Paris. To be accurate it is how far you are from Notre-Dame.
     
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  7. Hornet-Fez

    Hornet-Fez Well-Known Member

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    Absolute tragedy from an architectural point of view.
     
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  8. colognehornet

    colognehornet Well-Known Member

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    The link between the past and present of cities is normally in the form of religious buildings Fez. I cannot imagine what effects such an event would have in Cologne, where only religious buildings connect its past with the present - absolutely devastating. However, this fire should not divert us from the fact that many of these cathedrals are crumbling anyway - the fact that they were built with a precision which we can't produce today, doesn't protect them for all eternity. On average 108 people enter this building every minute during opening hours, and 35 buses are waiting outside with their fumes eating into the stonework of the cathedral. A combination of 850 years of history, combined with pollution and acid rain has taken its toll, and often the stonework comes away in your hand. Cologne cathedral is not much different in this respect, and needs constant renovation. If the Eiffel Tower is Paris then Notre Dame is France, just as Cologne Cathedral is Cologne, but these national icons are in a fragile state even without fire.
     
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  9. Yeah - the 100 Club's looking a bit sorry for itself these days too <whistle>
     
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  10. Hornet-Fez

    Hornet-Fez Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely.
     
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  11. yorkshirehornet

    yorkshirehornet Well-Known Member

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    Very moving to a witness how events such as this unite peoples

    Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk
     
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  12. Apparently thousands of French forest owners have offered to give one oak tree each to the roof rebuilding effort. I kind of like that.
     
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  13. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    An event such as this does bring people together. We have seen it with the terror attacks, and now the fire. There is something about the French mentality that may go back to the revolution where the population took control from the rulers, and and brought in the Liberté, égalité, fraternité motto. There is certainly more of a social togetherness here, with the government in trouble if it tries to benefit one section of the population at the expense of another. There are exceptions.
    The speed at which plans are being made at Notre-Dame is quite impressive. Inspection of the structure is bound to take some time. The stone walls must have moved to some extent after the weight of the roof was taken off. It may be difficult to find enough oak trees that are large enough, so different techniques will have to be employed, but it does give people the chance to install fire breaks to help prevent such an event happening again.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
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  14. colognehornet

    colognehornet Well-Known Member

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    It was to the advantage of Cologne Cathedral that the two spires were only actually completed in the 19th Century and, consequently, used more modern construction techniques such as iron roof girders - surely such a 'non traditional' innovation would be acceptable with a reconstruction which is meant to last another couple of hundred years.
     
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  15. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    I agree with you, but then there are those who want to recreate it exactly. The spire was not original, replacing an earlier one around 1850. The building has changed over the years to make it more practical, and I am not sure that to never accept change is the right thing. The fabulous organ in there was purely mechanical until the actions were operated electrically, creating a better instrument.
     
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  16. Macron's stated ambition of having it ready for the 2024 Olympic games seems optimistic to say the least. Still, maybe there's nothing wrong in that. I would have thought the planning and decision making process for what the rebuild should look like could take at least a year and probably more.

    My dad hails from County Cork and once said if you put 10 Corkmen in a room you get 11 opinions and I've often felt that true of Parisians (in a good way obviously). For those involved in any aspect of the rebuild it promises to be an interesting experience!
     
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