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| Workers Scramble to Protect Fire-Damaged Notre-Dame’s Interior Before Rain Arrives | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| PARIS — With rain expected in Paris later this week, workers at Notre-Dame cathedral on Tuesday scrambled to protect the building’s interior, scaling the walls with ropes to put in place giant tarpaulin coverings, the cathedral’s chief architect said. | PARIS — With rain expected in Paris later this week, workers at Notre-Dame cathedral on Tuesday scrambled to protect the building’s interior, scaling the walls with ropes to put in place giant tarpaulin coverings, the cathedral’s chief architect said. |
| A catastrophic fire last week destroyed the cathedral’s attic and the lead roof, creating gaping holes in the immense vaulted ceiling, and leaving the building’s interior perilously exposed. On Tuesday, a team of workers specialized in using ropes at great heights — “mountaineers” as they are called in French — labored to install the tarps. | A catastrophic fire last week destroyed the cathedral’s attic and the lead roof, creating gaping holes in the immense vaulted ceiling, and leaving the building’s interior perilously exposed. On Tuesday, a team of workers specialized in using ropes at great heights — “mountaineers” as they are called in French — labored to install the tarps. |
| “We are working as fast as we can,” said the architect, Philippe Villeneuve, adding that the work was expected to be finished by Wednesday. The mountaineers are “used to working in perilous conditions,” he added. “They know this kind of work.” | “We are working as fast as we can,” said the architect, Philippe Villeneuve, adding that the work was expected to be finished by Wednesday. The mountaineers are “used to working in perilous conditions,” he added. “They know this kind of work.” |
| Before putting up the tarp, the workers had to install prefabricated metal beams on which to suspend it. | Before putting up the tarp, the workers had to install prefabricated metal beams on which to suspend it. |
| The job is dangerous not just because of the cathedral’s height, but also because the fire left the building unstable: No one can be certain which parts might crumble as a result of the extreme heat to which it was subjected. | The job is dangerous not just because of the cathedral’s height, but also because the fire left the building unstable: No one can be certain which parts might crumble as a result of the extreme heat to which it was subjected. |
| “Before protecting against the rain, we’ve got to stabilize,” Mr. Villeneuve said. “Since Monday we’ve been working to secure, shore up and protect the collapsed parts.” | “Before protecting against the rain, we’ve got to stabilize,” Mr. Villeneuve said. “Since Monday we’ve been working to secure, shore up and protect the collapsed parts.” |
| That included “very slowly” removing the carbonized wood that was in the attic, he added. | That included “very slowly” removing the carbonized wood that was in the attic, he added. |
| “We are going step by step,” the architect said. “Everything that happens at Notre-Dame is out of scale. It’s like having several construction sites at several different buildings.” | “We are going step by step,” the architect said. “Everything that happens at Notre-Dame is out of scale. It’s like having several construction sites at several different buildings.” |
| But he said that much progress had been made since the fire on April 15, including the placement of giant netting over the rose windows, which were damaged but not destroyed in the blaze. | But he said that much progress had been made since the fire on April 15, including the placement of giant netting over the rose windows, which were damaged but not destroyed in the blaze. |
| “When you see the work that’s been done over the last week, it’s colossal,” he said, citing the stabilization of some of the fantastical sculptures by the 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc and the securing of critical gable supports. | “When you see the work that’s been done over the last week, it’s colossal,” he said, citing the stabilization of some of the fantastical sculptures by the 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc and the securing of critical gable supports. |
| “It’s a huge amount of work, and we’re working everywhere,” Mr. Villeneuve said. | “It’s a huge amount of work, and we’re working everywhere,” Mr. Villeneuve said. |
| Already, the context for rebuilding the cathedral has shifted. The initial shock and feeling of national solidarity have partly given way to a series of quarrels. | |
| There are those who want Notre-Dame to be rebuilt exactly as it was, including the attic with its “forest” of timbers. Yet architects have pointed out that Notre-Dame before the fire was in many respects a 19th-century rendering — via Mr. Viollet-le-Duc’s reimaginings — of a medieval building. | There are those who want Notre-Dame to be rebuilt exactly as it was, including the attic with its “forest” of timbers. Yet architects have pointed out that Notre-Dame before the fire was in many respects a 19th-century rendering — via Mr. Viollet-le-Duc’s reimaginings — of a medieval building. |
| Then there are those who think modern elements should be incorporated in the reconstruction, including perhaps a glass roof like the one at the Grand Palais, the exhibition hall and museum complex at the Champs-Élysées. | Then there are those who think modern elements should be incorporated in the reconstruction, including perhaps a glass roof like the one at the Grand Palais, the exhibition hall and museum complex at the Champs-Élysées. |
| Complicating it all is President Emmanuel Macron’s vow to rebuild the cathedral in five years, a target that some French architects say is impossibly soon, while others call it reasonable. | Complicating it all is President Emmanuel Macron’s vow to rebuild the cathedral in five years, a target that some French architects say is impossibly soon, while others call it reasonable. |
| There is also bitterness over the pledged donations of hundreds of millions of euros by luxury trade industrialists like Bernard Arnault and François Pinault for the rebuilding. Some of those demonstrating in Paris on Saturday as part of the “Yellow Vest” movement calling for greater economic equality bore placards complaining that the pledged money was going to the cathedral rather than to people like them. | There is also bitterness over the pledged donations of hundreds of millions of euros by luxury trade industrialists like Bernard Arnault and François Pinault for the rebuilding. Some of those demonstrating in Paris on Saturday as part of the “Yellow Vest” movement calling for greater economic equality bore placards complaining that the pledged money was going to the cathedral rather than to people like them. |
| Investigators from the Paris prosecutor’s office are still trying to determine the cause of the fire. | Investigators from the Paris prosecutor’s office are still trying to determine the cause of the fire. |
| After interviewing dozens of workers, witnesses, security guards and construction company officials, investigators think it may have been caused by a short circuit linked to the restoration work that was underway when the fire broke out, perhaps connected to the wiring of the elevators that had been installed in the scaffolding, according to French news media reports. | After interviewing dozens of workers, witnesses, security guards and construction company officials, investigators think it may have been caused by a short circuit linked to the restoration work that was underway when the fire broke out, perhaps connected to the wiring of the elevators that had been installed in the scaffolding, according to French news media reports. |