I am not a historian and not a firefighter, but after waiting for some time from the moment of the fire and having read various authoritative opinions, I made the following conclusions …
First, you need to understand this.
Everything that died in the fire was made by the great restorer, the founder of architectural restoration Eugene Viollet-le-Duc and his colleague Jean-Baptiste Lassus in the 1840s-1850s. Because in the 1830s, the famous cathedral lay in ruins, compared to which the current fire is bullshit. In the course of the architectural restoration, they invented a spire (which once was, but in the 18th century it simply collapsed from decay), and the roof was moved, and the statues on it, and the gargoyles (they never existed). All ancient buildings require restoration and they were once and more than once restored.
Fire can do nothing to medieval masonry. This is just not a church in Kondopoga, which recently burned to the ground and was also very many years old. This is truly a loss forever.
It is clear that the roof of the cathedral needs to be moved. But it will be transferred, especially when it was necessary to do it.
And the cathedral will be as divinely medieval as it was. Because in France, the school of restoration is of a very high level.
That is a pity. But everything will be fine
A representative of the French authorities, answering press questions about the safety of the interior, says “everything is in place, literally there is not a single burnt chair
Promotional video:
The entire stone structure of the cathedral is completely preserved, the interiors and art treasures on the facade and inside are out of danger, in fact only the wooden roof burned down.
All this time, the firefighters knew what they were doing. They knew everything about the construction of the cathedral, they knew that there were wooden supports under the roof. and under the supports - gothic lace of stone. you know, medieval cathedrals are very fragile. they could only be built so high by lightening the structure. a system of supporting columns, the gaps between them are filled with light materials like ordinary brick - or even just holes in the arches and stained glass windows. gothic vaults are the same. these "ribs" on the ceiling - they hold the arch. they are very thin, there is a strength of one and a half (architects will understand me and correct the wording), and it is very easy to destroy them.
During the French Revolution, the new atheist government massively destroyed the Catholic Gothic cathedrals in France. this case was put on stream so that even one architect wrote a special technical book: "How to blow up Gothic cathedrals." with diagrams and plans, so, for the destruction of a huge cathedral, you only need 3 kg of explosives, which must be installed in three key places. It's just, you know? Blow them up and the cathedral will collapse.
The firefighters knew that for sure. they knew much more - they knew EVERYTHING IS NECESSARY to make the right decisions to save the monument. It was impossible to dump water in an array - it would have broken through the stone ceiling. it was not even possible to simply pour water from above - a huge mass of water that would accumulate on the roof like, in a bathroom with sides, sooner or later would push through the ceiling and it would collapse. they said it right away. and continued to do their job. 400 firefighters. they are still working there - they cool the heated elements and extinguish the residual centers. do their job.
In general, the bottom line: there are really irrecoverable losses in cultural values, or God forbid human sacrifice - this is a tragedy. And in the case of Notre Dame, you shouldn't kill yourself as much as the progressive public of Russia does in social networks. By the way, about the ancient church, completely wooden, which was burned down by a teenager in Kondopoga, few people were killed. It was the highest tent in the world. And it is definitely impossible to restore it …
P. S
The stained glass window is probably intact thanks to, among other things, the firemen …
P. S. 2
Romantic dinner…
