Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Notre Dame

Other people have already said everything reasonable to say (and a lot of unreasonable things as well), and all I can add is that I hope they can rebuild it. The amount of volunteered money is encouraging, but a few noises suggest that jockeying for control has already started. The usual winners of these artistic contests seem not to have any great interest in beauty, much less Christianity.

If you haven't seen the robot Colossus, watch it. It could go where people couldn't, and keep watching, and keep the water flowing. And the Paris Fire Brigade borrowed some drones, and got the "geofencing functions" bypassed so the drones could fly within the city limits. Apparently the French bureaucracy can move quickly when it wants to.

The cathedral has been modified before. I think this time maybe they shouldn't go with oak timbers. Steel. And since the upper stone is probably weakened, maybe some additional framework on the outside. It won't look the same--but then it didn't look quite the same after each earlier remodeling.

But first and foremost, if they want to rebuild it with any meaning, it must be a church.

3 comments:

engineerlite said...

The noises you hear about jockeying for control reminded me to wonder whether the Haitians or the Clintons made out better with the hurricane relief money.

engineerlite said...

Your wish that it be rebuilt as a church could have a surprising result. The Cathedral was inspired, designed, and built by people whose God was the Creator of all things, vast, beautiful and grand. He was the giver and sustainer of life, the giver of all good things, and the Saviour. A cathedral to the gods of France today could turn out to be a government office building.

james said...

True. Or with a variety of different chapels intended for different faiths--not that that ever works.