The Gothic Strength of Notre Dame: Today's LA Times

[CaliforniaPeggy]

By Adam Goodheart

The medieval architects, builders and craftsmen who created Notre Dame were fully aware that they were constructing not just a monument, but a metaphor.

A Gothic cathedral was a book for an unlettered age: Its intricate carvings narrated biblical stories to princes and peasants alike. Its long nave, intersected by a shorter transept, evoked a human body, or a crucifix. Its massed towers against the sky were like the mountain on which Moses received the tablets of the law. Its ostentatious luxury, set amid the narrow streets of a squalid city, bespoke a social order in which the unwashed many were dominated by the opulent few. Some scholars have described the Gothic cathedral as a model of the entire medieval universe, from its moldy underworld crypts, to its ethereal spire pointing up and up toward an infinite God.

At first, the burning hulk of Notre Dame cathedral seemed an exquisitely terrible metaphor as well, an almost biblical portent for our own doomed era. To some onlookers, it stood not just for the fragility of all human creations — how a monument lovingly constructed over the centuries could be pulverized in an instant — but about the fragility inherent in political institutions, ecosystems, civilizations.

Engineers have inspected the structure as a whole and found that there is no danger of collapse. Humanity has not suffered an irreparable cultural loss.

The rest at the link: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-goodheart-notre-dame-fire-gothic-20190417-story.html

[global1]

1. What Blows My Mind Is That The Firefighters Has No Ability To Get Up High Enough To.....

manage this fire because they had no equipment to be able to do that.

This makes me sit back and wonder how the structure was built in the first place without any mechanized equipment back when they built it.

Just think about what it took to build this church in the first place.

[Retrograde]

5. The builders had mechanized equipment of sorts

including human-powered hoists. Many years ago, Notre Dame had a diorama of the construction: it showed a lot of scaffolding and simple machines like pulleys to haul materials up to workers on the higher levels. It just took a lot of people - and a lot of time - to pile up all those stones.

There must be some sort of basic human urge to pile up things on top of each other, since people all over the globe have done it: the Egyptian and Mayan pyramids, Machu Pichu, Chaco Canyon, the Mound Builders, the Great Wall of China, standing stones all over Europe, and others. I suppose it's a way of telling future generations "We Were Here"

[sarge43]

6. They had equipment powered by human and animal effort.

For example, double pulleys and platforms to lift the stones into place. The real trick was cutting the stones for a tight, exact fit. That's where the stone masons came in; they were the IT and computer nerds of their day - masters of the cutting edge (pardon the pun) tech of their day.

The true genius were the flying buttress; they supported the weight of the walls,allowing them to be built higher without collapsing under their own weight. Also, allowed for large windows filled with that glorious stained glass. Cutting and fitting them was where the masons earned the big bucks and no they didn't do it for free. Faith didn't pay the bills. Elaborate wooden structures were built to support the stones while they were cut and fitted. It must have been a moment when the last one was placed and the support structure was removed. "Have you cash the check, Master William?"

Keep in mind that only the best of the tech have survived the centuries. Many more were attempted and failed. Everything from the ground being too soft to attempts to out do the cathedral in the next town to hiring second string craftsmen on the cheap.

[hlthe2b]

2. I get teary-eyed every time I read updates... At least there is some 'good' news now..

but I am wrecked when I read or overhear comments from those who have no clue what this irreplaceable piece of history represents. One need not be religious to recognize this, but you do have to have some interest in the world outside the damned Kardashians on instagram. (yeah, I've overheard some very clueless younger folks lately)

[sarge43]

3. Like the Phoenix, she arose from the ashes to live again.

The valiant Lady of Paris is a symbol of renewal and hope.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Stirring and hopeful

Thanks for posting.

[Hekate]

7. Thank you, on this day

[Hekate]

8. I finally got around to reading the LA Times on my kitchen table & looked for this article...

It is truly beautiful to read in its entirety, Peggy. And after all my tears on the day Notre Dame de Paris burned, this brought a smile to my lips. No, she is not dead. Yes, she will rise from the ashes.

[nuxvomica]

9. Gothic cathedrals like Notre-Dame de Paris are simply breathtaking

That anything so seemingly delicate, weightless, and soaring high above the earth, could be built of heavy stone tells us much. Created to worship God, they stand as testaments to the potential of the human spirit. I think Notre-Dame is worth the millions it will take to repair. As a species, we need to see things that tell us there is nothing we cannot aspire to. If humans could build it, they can end poverty, hunger and disease, and they can reverse climate change. Like Obama's Presidency, it says "Yes, we can."