What is the future of Notre Dame in Paris?
55% of the public in France wants the iconic cathedral to be restored exactly as it was before.
The future of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France is still unknown. After the fire this April, that site was closed for three weeks for lead pollution cleanup. Earlier this month, workers returned to stabilize the structure so that reconstruction can begin. Now, what a restored Notre Dame will look like is still up for debate.
A recent poll by Odoxa- Dentsu Aegis Network for FranceInfo and Le Figaro shows that 55% of the public in France wants the iconic cathedral to be restored exactly as it was before. But the French public seems divided on who should make a decision on the design, with 49% of them leaving the specifics to preservation experts, historians, engineers, and architects.
At Adventures in Preservation (AiP), we believe preserving the historical significance of any building is the key in tackling restoration projects, in particular when it comes to iconic buildings like the Notre Dame Cathedral. This is the goal of all our projects around the world: safeguarding our common heritage and foster community sustainability.
We envisions a world where people use, understand, and appreciate historic buildings that are vital to economic and environmental sustainability and preserve cultural identity.
Notably, when it comes to the future of Notre Dame, the French government has already launched an international competition to “determine if the spire will be a replica of the 19th-century design by French architect Viollet-le-Duc or something more modern for our times,” according to France’s Prime Minister Édouard Philippe.
Many eager architects from around the world flooded social media with their visions of Notre Dame, including futurustic designs with glass roofs, twisting modern spires, and more.
“I think we could rebuild at least the major part of the structure to be identical to before and maybe add a touch of modernity, without taking away the character of the building,” a Parisian told NPR. Another said: “I’m not against a new project, on the condition it’s supported by many experts and the public is informed of all the cultural sources and references.”
Meanwhile, the website GoArchitect also organized an open, popular, non-binding competion to submit designs for the reconstruction of Notre Dame’s roof. In total, 226 designers from 56 countries submitted designs and around 30,000 people, from around the world, voted for their favorite designs.
Winning the popular vote was a design titled “Paris Heartbeat” by Zeyu Cai and Sibei Li.
Although not official in any shape or form, the competition shows the importance of creativity in the field of preservation and reconstruction, as well as the key role of a healthy debate around the future of public buildings both in terms of community and historical significance.
About Adventures in Preservation (AiP)
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) is a non-profit connecting people and preservation through enriching cultural heritage travel and hands-on education. AiP was founded in 2001 by two women with a great love of historic buildings and a strong desire to travel and understand the world. While perusing the travel section of the Boulder Bookstore, the Volunteer Vacation section suddenly brought everything into focus. Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe combined their goal of saving historic buildings with the concept of experiential travel, and created AiP’s hands-on preservation vacations.
Work started on several sites in the U.S., and as word spread, requests for help began to pour in from around the world, underscoring the great potential of using volunteers to restore historic buildings. In supporting community-based preservation initiatives, we discovered that our love of old buildings could translate into environmental and economic sustainability for communities.
AiP is picking up the pace! As our hands-on experiential travel becomes more popular, we have new projects, new partners and initiatives to keep you excited and involved.
