What a sad week in April 2019 to see Notre Dame ablaze with fire.  It is hard to imagine what happened to start the devastation, for it to go un-noticed for long enough to be completely out of control. And ironic that during a period of restoration, the state of repair has grown a thousand times bigger.

It is interesting to think where is the tipping point between restoring a building like this or letting it stand as a monumental ruin like the Colosseum in Rome or the Acropolis in Athens. Admittedly Notre Dame is not as old of course, but one day it might be, and one day it will be a ruin.

I have enjoyed Notre Dame more from the outside and admire the colossal buttresses that hold it in place. In my mind I have imagined it like the giant Gulliver tied down to the ground by the people of Lilliput. Notre Dame is going no where.

In Britain…

I am not sure we have anywhere in Britain that would create such grief and emotion in the loss or partial loss of a building.  Comparisons to Grenfell Tower are misplaced as that involved the terrible loss of life, and way of life for many people.  But we do not hold any buildings dear, as a nation.  The Royal Palaces do not feel like ours, Westminster does not feel like ours, even St Paul’s Cathedral would not have the same affect as we become more and more secular. We all have places and building that we like and admire.  But I cannot think of one that symbolize us as a nation.

Notre Dame will be restored, but probably not in my life time.  After all it took 200 years to build in the first place.  It is nice to think that the Bees of the Notre Dame hives survived, dazed and sleeping through the whole horrible event.  Every one of them has been accounted for.  I am sure the price of Notre Dame honey has gone through the roof.  Literally!

I am entering the competition to design the new spire.  It is a simple design and I am looking forward to what the French have to say about it.

#ViveLaFrance