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DEO GRATIAS

the church itself was a precious artwork.

I hate to be pedantic in the wake of such a tragedy, but a question does arise. An old building has to be maintained and various parts rebuilt from time to time. To take just one example, I heard an apparently expert historian on the radio yesterday saying that Notre Dame had been allowed to seriously deteriorate in the early 19th century, during and beyond the French Revolution, and that public interest and commitment revived in mid-century. His assertion was that Victor Hugo and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were instrumental in reawakening French popular interest in what was, by then, a deteriorating state-owned property. The spire that was part of the current renovation and where the fire apparently started was rebuilt in the 19th century. It was not 800 year old material; it was 150 year old material.

The same question can be asked of any part of the structure, including especially the roof. When was the roof last replaced? At Notre Dame, I presume that the basic stone structure is all still medieval; I'm not aware of any major redesign that would have changed that. Windows are more fragile, but I'm sure the art historians can tell us how old the current windows really are. (Weren't the rose windows removed during WWII to protect from bomb damage? Or am I thinking of some other church?) How about the interior woodwork? Is it really all 8-900 year old wood, or has it been renewed over time?

This question is much on my mind because I'm taking the family on a European swing this summer. (I want my daughters to see some of the major sites before the Muslims destroy them.) Notre Dame is on our list, but I guess we'll now only be seeing that from a distance, though the roofless stone walls and towers will still be impressive. We'll also be in Rome. The Pantheon is a well-preserved Roman structure, but a church like Santa Maria Maggiore raises these questions in spades. Maria Maggiore dates to the 5th century, so it is late Roman, but it has been renovated and redecorated periodically over the years. I gather that the basic fabric of the church and the mosaics are original, but beyond that … well, I hope we get a knowledgeable guide who can tell me what is 5th century and what is 15th century. St. Peter's Basilica, of course, is the third church on that site. Whether anything at all remains of the first two, I don't know, but if I recall correctly, St. Peter's shares part of the foundation wall of Nero's Circus, which is appropriate because the Circus -- and Peter's place of burial in a convenient tomb along the road outside, now deep below the high altar -- is why the church is there to begin with. (The archaeology pretty solidly supports the traditional story.) Sorting this kind of stuff out is part of the fun of visiting these wonderful sites.

So: back to Notre Dame. The cathedral may be 8-900 years old, but a lot of the contents may be more recent. This may become very important when the restoration teams start deciding what to conserve and what to replace with modern (and fireproof) materials. Not everything has the same antiquarian value.

A word of advice to the restoration teams. Starting today, save every scrap of old material that is removed from the structure. Even if it's not reusable, it can be authenticated, framed and mounted, and sold to help with the fundraising for restoration. I'm probably not the only person here who has historical artefacts, most of them fairly trivial in nature, hanging on the walls. A blackened timber from Notre Dame, sawn down to size, would fit right in. Or a ruined chunk of stone to go next to my fragment of the Berlin Wall. Don't throw this stuff away.

Dear Lord, thank You.

Not discounting the blessing, but wasn’t a lot of this removed from the structure during renovation?

Sooo they had an incredible and sophisticated strategy set up for just such an emergency, to put out the fire and remove the relics and art.

But not to prevent it.

MMMkay.

Amen.

That wont stop Gollum!