Exit the "contemporary architectural gesture" envisaged for a time to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris: fifteen months after the fire that ravaged the cathedral and moved the whole world, President Macron finally opted to rebuild the Gothic jewel identically. He "acquired the conviction" that the cathedral must be restored to its original identity, said the Elysée Thursday evening, after a meeting of the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture (CNPA), bringing together elected officials, experts and site architects.
"The president trusted the experts and pre-approved the main lines of the project presented by the chief architect (Philippe Villeneuve), which plans to reconstruct the spire identically," said the Elysée.
The possibility of a "contemporary architectural gesture" discarded
This project generally proposes a restoration of the cathedral and its spire in the manner closest to its state just before the fire that occurred on the evening of April 15, 2019. To everyone's surprise, the Head of State had mentioned, shortly after the fire, the possibility of "a contemporary architectural gesture" to rebuild the cathedral, stimulating the imagination of many great architects. Some had proposed a glass spire, the creation on the roof of an organic garden park or a panoramic terrace ...
The architect Philippe Villeneuve has always pleaded loyalty to the work retouched in the Gothic style by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, of which all the plans are kept. And to argue that such an option makes it possible to better meet the deadlines for a reconstruction in five years, as wanted by President Macron.
A clear opinion which gave rise to an unusual pass of arms at the end of 2019 with General Georgelin, appointed to supervise the site: the latter had asked the chief architect to "close his mouth", after taking a stand against a contemporary arrow.