When the Notre Dame cathedral caught fire in April 2019, Paris came very close to losing over 800 years of history. Now engineers are in a different race against time: to rebuild the roof and secure the medieval structure. Underneath the charred scaffolding and vaulted ceilings of the cathedral, scientists study the components of Notre Dame's iconic structure to puzzle out how best to repair it.
But it's a complicated and dangerous task. Underneath the charred scaffolding and vaulted ceilings of the cathedral, scientists study the components of Notre Dame's iconic structure to puzzle out how best to repair it. Deep below the streets of Paris, researchers explore medieval quarries, investigating the marine fossils they hold to figure out where the cathedral ceiling's original limestone was mined from. In a cutting-edge laboratory, glass conservators painstakingly repair Notre Dame's stained-glass windows, removing vaporized lead left behind by the inferno. And in the countryside, carpenters show how specific trees could be chosen for their grain to mimic the curves of the timbers of the cathedral's towering attic—the so-called "forest." As Luck Would Have It, advanced scanning technology had recently been used to create an elaborate digital model of the cathedral, creating an invaluable reference for the original structure. Even as investigators try to piece together what happened the day of the fire, scientists come together across disciplines to determine how they can reconstruct this icon of history and culture—and how such a catastrophe can be avoided in the future.
My Thoughts
Like most people around the world, I watched the television in horror when I heard that Notre Dame was on fire. For me, the loss of such a structure had nothing to do with religion. It was the loss of history; of artwork; something that can never be replaced. In Saving Notre Dame, we follow the path of destruction, getting a first hand view of the firefighters fighting to put out of the flames. But more importantly, it shows you what came after the fire. Scientists have been studying the structure to try to restore it to its original glory. Artists work to repair the stained glass, and a digital model is used to help the workers to their best to bring the cathedral back to life.
This documentary is a fascinating look at everything that went into the construction of Notre Dame and the battle to restore if. If you'd like to purchase the DVD for yourself, you can find it online on PBS.org or on Amazon.
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