- A big job of securing the western facade began after the fire in the cathedral, which occurred on Saturday.
- This facade, composed in particular of stones and stained glass, was badly damaged.
- The various specialists believe that the site of Nantes cathedral has nothing to do with that of Notre-Dame-de-Paris.
Already many people at his bedside for several days. The restoration work on the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in Nantes, affected on Saturday morning by a fire whose causes are still unknown, is only in its early stages. "We are facing a serious heritage event, but we have preserved the essential," said on Wednesday at a press conference, Philippe Barbat, Director General of Heritage, who praised the work of relief, without whom the damage would have been much more important.
Several elements of the cathedral have been more or less affected. In addition to the destruction of a painting by Flandrin, the great organ and the console of the choir organ, "the western facade has suffered a lot", according to Valérie Gaudard, curator of historical monuments. "There are stones which have exploded, others which were still moving in the hours following the fire and others which fell because they were in precarious balance," explains Pascal Prunet, chief architect of historical monuments. As some have been displaced by the thermal and water expansion of the fire, they are now in an unstable situation. “A security perimeter was also set up on the square and gates were installed around the facade.
The accidental facade, part very affected and to stabilize
At present, the Lefèvre company of Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire deals with the purging of friable stones. Protective nets will then be stretched to avoid the risk of falling rocks and so that the various diagnoses can be carried out by the experts in complete safety.
In addition, at the level of the large glass roof still on the western facade, the mullions, altered by the fire, will be consolidated and the stained-glass windows which have exploded will be recovered for analysis by specialists.
More generally, "we have a building that stands, but which has been traumatized in its central part, insists Pascal Prunet. One of the complexities of this project is the stabilization of this large facade. "Valérie Gaudard puts it into perspective:" We are not in the complexity of the Notre-Dame-de-Paris site. There, we are on another scale. Structure is a major problem. Here in Nantes, we are not at all in this configuration. The structure is healthy. There is just the question of stabilizing the western facade, but it is under control. The site is manageable, it is not unusual. "
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Society
Nantes cathedral fire: damaged stones, destroyed organ ... How will the reconstruction take place?
A "partial" opening of the cathedral envisaged during the works
How long will the reconstruction period last? Experts have not been precise, but there is no doubt that this is measured in years. The Drac (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Pays-de-la-Loire) nevertheless hinted at the possibility of a cathedral open to the public during part of the work. "We will try to organize the restoration of this building so that we can as soon as possible and at best allow an opening of the building, at the beginning very partial", explained Valérie Gaudard, regional curator of historical monuments at the Drac from Pays-de-la-Loire.
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