President Macron Vowed to Rebuild Notre-Dame in 5 Years. Experts Say it Will Take Decades

Just a day after the devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral, President Macron vowed that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years — but restoration experts warn its reconstruction could take much longer.

As reported by NBC News, Emily Guerry, a professor of medieval history at England’s University of Kent, anticipates restoration work on the 850-year-old icon would take around two decades. “This will be the largest, most important cultural renovation project in France for some time to come,” she said, adding that the process would be “very delicate.”

President Macron addresses the media in front of Notre-Dame; image via Reuters

Jean-Claude Bellanger of Les Compagnons du Devoir — an organization that provides training in manual trades — also highlighted the huge number of specialists that would need to be recruited for the project. Hundreds of master stone-cutters, mortar makers, carpenters, roofers, quarrymen and sculptors will need to be identified and coordinated.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has called for architects around the world to design a new spire for the cathedral. He said he hoped for the creation of “a new spire that is adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era”. The spire destroyed in the blaze was added to the cathedral during a 19th Century restoration project led by French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc.

Diagrams showing how the fire spread; image via the New York Times

Donations for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame have been flooding in. There have been numerous pledges of hundreds of millions of Euros, including €100 million from François-Henri Pinault, the C.E.O. of the luxury goods conglomerate Kering, and €200 million from the Arnault family, which runs the rival luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.

The Gothic icon — one of the French Capital’s most beloved landmarks — had been undergoing extensive renovations in recent months, and it is thought that the blaze was started by something related to the construction work. During Monday’s fire, the cathedral’s roof — made almost entirely of wood — completely collapsed.

Notre-Dame Cathedral; image via Travel + Leisure

The importance of Notre-Dame to the city of Paris cannot be overstated — the building sees around 13 million visitors a year, more than the Eiffel Tower. This explains why the political leaders of France have been so quick to call for its ambitious restoration, but their assertions over the timeframe of the project will undoubtedly draw further scrutiny over the coming months.

Stay tuned for more news on the reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in the coming months here on Architizer.

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