Notre-Dame de Paris: A Soaring Budget and an Identical Reconstruction
The cathedral whose praises were sung by Victor Hugo is entering a new phase of its restoration. However, the budget will need to be revised upwards. This was announced on July 2, 2020, by the president of the public institution responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The budget for Notre Dame’s security, consolidation, and cleaning phase must be revised upwards. To date, it has reached 165 million euros, more than double the 80 million initially estimated.
This was explained, on July 2, 2020, by General Jean-Louis Georgelin, in his capacity as president of the public institution responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Heard by the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, the soldier wanted to be optimistic: the lead emissions from the cathedral are ancient history, the dismantling phase of the scaffolding has begun, and “all the people who work there are enthusiastic and proud,” he said.
Notre-Dame’s “Mr. Restoration” is also pondering the doubling of the security phase budget: since the first estimate covered a period up to the end of 2020, the new estimate envisages operations through 2021.
Referring to the pot of donation money from which the cathedral should benefit, Jean-Louis Georgelin recalled the amount of 833 million euro donations to which are added the 70 million still in “consolidation” with the Paris departments and city hall.
The renovation of the emblematic building of Paris enters a new phase in July, with the delivery of the evaluation report drawn up by Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect. The latter, in favor of an identical restoration of the spire created by Viollet-le-Duc, had drawn the wrath of General Georgelin in November 2019: “he should shut his mouth” the military man then cracked.
However, on July 9, the members of the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, an advisory body, all voted in favor of an identical restoration of the spire. For the framework, the Commission asked for oak and lead for the roof.
The President of the Republic quickly reacted by putting an end to the idea of the architectural competition for design of Notre-Dame’s spire. This architectural competition, mentioned by his former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, was in response to Emmanuel Macron’s announcement in the aftermath of the disaster regarding accompanying the reconstruction of the building with a contemporary architectural gesture.”
The abandonment of the contemporary spire project makes it possible once more to reopen the cathedral in 2024.
(Sources : La Croix/Le Figaro/RTL – FSSPX. Actualités - 10/07/2020)
