As I spoke with friends regarding Notre Dame, I heard respectful comments about . . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . . the restoration.

Should it be a faithful restoration of the past . . . .

or

a respectful but new rebuilding?

A friend of mine, a native Berliner, talked about the Reichstag's new dome, built in honor of the reunification of Germany. The building is still what it was, but different.

Somewhat different, but similar, is Coventry Cathedral, in Coventry, England. The WWII ruin is preserved and appended to it is the new, modernist building that is the new Coventry Cathedral.

Might the fire present the French with an opportunity?

[msongs]

1. the new roof will not be a hugely heavy lead one thats for sure nt

[irisblue]

3. Reichstag & Coventry Cathederal

Have different origins and ends. I'm not thinking these are comparable in POV of Notre Dame.

But it is their building and a world heritage site.

[Hoyt]

4. They'll never be able to replicate some of the cathedral, stain glass, etc. They should strive

for a modern cathedral incorporating elements remaining of the past. I look forward to seeing the new work of art, using historical elements. Don’t much care about religious aspects.

I bet it’s a 50+ year project.

[ChazInAz]

6. A window solution in Austria.

In Vienna's cathedral (Snt. Stefan? I forget.) several of the Medieval stained glass windows that had been destroyed in WWII were creatively replaced. Not feeling it was appropriate to recreate the originals, the restorers used small rectangular panes that recreated the color distribution on those windows. This gave the same light to the interior spaces as the old windows.

[JayhawkSD]

9. More like 100 years, according to one cemment.

One of the cathedral's tour guides commented that it would probably take 100 years to rebuild. That was, however, when there was still danger of losing the entire structure, so your 50 years may be on target.

Some, at least, of the great windows survived. How's that for great news?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. It's really too soon to make those decisions.

To begin with, the extent of damage needs to be assessed. And then those who know much more than I do, or probably anyone here, needs to look very carefully at the damage and what can be done. There is no need to rush. Notre Dame has stood for some 900 years now, and with any luck at all this is just a glitch. 900 years from now people will go, "Oh, yeah, that's right, there was a serious fire in the 21st century, but we rebuilt and look at how magnificent it is in our time."

[TreasonousBastard]

7. The stone shell of the building seems to be intact, so much of the expected discussion...

will be limited by that. No doubt they will still argue about the details, though.

When my church burned down 4 years ago, the congregation was split on what to do. Really split-- we lost people over whether to buy another church that was available, or rebuild. And if we rebuilt, just how to rebuild.

The talk about Unitarian Universalism being rational, peaceful, and respectful became a bit stretched.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. The Dresden Cathedral was rebuilt after being completely destroyed in WWII.

It was built in the middle of the 18th century so it wasn't nearly as old as Notre Dame, but almost all of its reconstruction was done using the original plans from 1720 and materials salvaged from the original building.

[uppityperson]

10. France rebuilt much after WW2, some new, some old style

They've very active historical groups, it will be interesting to watch.

[fierywoman]

11. Consider what France did with the Louvre by putting in the glass pyramids ...

[MountCleaners]

13. In 2006, the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Bronzeville, Chicago burned

...this was a historic and rare Louis Sullivan building, with delicate stencilwork and ornament. It was also a major historic site, being the birthplace of modern gospel music.

Thirteen years have gone by, and it has not been rebuilt. Restoration could cost as much as $38 million. They are trying to raise funds to rebuild it and transform it into a museum of gospel music history.

However, I'm not crazy about the design:



Here is what the church looked like before it burned:



I prefer this model. It echoes the original design, a monument to the grief people felt at the loss of this church:



The morning after the fire, I rushed down to the church to see the damage. I took photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/liveinreality/albums/1795771

I am still mourning the loss of this building. It reminds me of the economic devastation of Gary, Indiana, which is where my father worked and near where I grew up. We as Americans can take our grief over Notre Dame and resolve to take better care of our own cultural history and landmarks. We're hypocrites if we fail to mourn the devastation that is in our own backyard!