An "ephemeral" wooden cathedral will be erected on the parvis of Notre-Dame de Paris, partially destroyed by the flames, all the time of the reconstruction work, announced Thursday Bishop Patrick Chauvet. "We must not say 'the cathedral is closed for 5 years and it's over,'" said the rector of Notre Dame interviewed on CNews. "So I thought to myself, 'Can not I build an ephemeral cathedral on the forecourt?' "The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo encouraged the project, he added, and agreed to lend" part of the square "for the construction of this church" wooden ".
A place to welcome the "curious" and the cohorts of tourists
This "place of welcome where there will be priests to be able to speak" will also serve to welcome the "curious" and the cohorts of tourists who visited Notre-Dame every year. They were 12 million in 2017. The building will stay until the end of the work - which will take five years, Emmanuel Macron promised Tuesday night.
Victim of a fire on Monday night, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, the most visited building in Europe, was partially destroyed, the spire overhanging it and a large part of its roof collapsing under the flames.
The installation of its temporary replacement will take place "quickly", said the rector. As soon as "we can have access" to the forecourt, still closed. The investigation, opened Monday evening by the parquet of Paris for "involuntary destruction by fire", is still in progress, and dozens of people have already been heard by the investigators.