Paris (AFP)
General Jean-Louis Georgelin, in charge of the restoration of Notre-Dame, called on Wednesday "battalions of young French people to go and strike" at the craft companies engaged on this site, "professions of the future" and " source of "jobs in the midst of the Covid crisis.
The president of the public establishment presented on the palisades of the rue du Cloître, along the cathedral, a photo exhibition, "The builders of today: the trades at the heart of the site of security of Notre- Lady".
"The law asks me to promote the crafts. We hope to do so by showing excellence, by arousing vocations", he argued, stressing that there is "surely an important deposit of 'jobs'. More than forty companies are working on the site.
The acceptance by the Elysée of an identical reconstruction and the abandonment of the innovative architectural gesture that Emmanuel Macron had wished for, is the choice of "common sense, loyalty, loyalty and love Gothic art, "he pleaded.
"It was the wish of the donors, of almost all the great architects, and of the French in their vast majority, if we had made a referendum", he argued.
"We are entering a new phase, because we now know that we will see the Viollet-Le-Duc spire again, we are going to rebuild the framework according to methods that still have to be specified and we will rebuild the roofing of the large lead roof, whatever are the battles that will have to be waged, ”he insisted.
"Between 150 to 180 people work on the site, which is experiencing a dynamism that it had never experienced before, and we will be ramping up. Very quickly, we will increase to 300/450 people by the end of the year ", he estimated.
He defended lead for "the roof of the great roof": "all the roofs of the great monuments of Paris and the great French cathedrals are made of lead". And "there are ways to treat lead in such a way that it is not injurious to health."
As for the oak frame, that "represents 1,000 to 2,000 trees, ie 0.0125 of French oak production," he argued.
The exhibition showing the various phases and aspects of the rescue of the cathedral, carried out by photographer Patrick Zachmann (Magnum), highlights some of the trades - carpenters, rope access technicians, scaffolders, crane operators, master glassmakers, stonemasons and masons.
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