A temporary wooden ‘cathedral’ outside Notre Dame should be built on the church’s esplanade while its restoration takes place, the rector says.
Bishop Patrick Chauvet spoke of an ‘ephemeral cathedral’ to stand outside the holy site after President Emmanuel Macron said Notre Dame’s rebuilding would take five years.
Speaking to CNews Chauvet said: ‘We mustn’t say “the cathedral is closed for five years and that’s it,”‘ suggesting, ‘Can I not build an ephemeral cathedral on the esplanade (in front of Notre-Dame)?’
On Thursday, Macron will hold a meeting with his firefighters followed by a ceremony at Paris City Hall to honour their heroic work during Monday’s inferno.
Chauvet said the wooden church would host priests who could address some of the millions of tourists who throng the original 850-year-old Gothic cathedral each year.
The Bishop said the surrogate ‘cathedral’ would be erected quickly, as soon as the esplanade reopens after work to secure the cathedral is completed.
In a statement the airline said: ‘Air France will provide free transport for all official partners involved in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.’
The blaze which tore down the cathedral’s steeple and much of its roof, would have been far worse if not for Paris’ brave firefighters who Macron will meet on Thursday.
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The president is to host them for a special gathering to share ‘words of thanks’, according to his office.
Senior government ministers will also take part in the event at the presidential palace in Paris.
Later, Paris City Hall will hold a ceremony in the firefighters’ honour, with a Bach violin concert, two giant banners strung from the monumental city headquarters and readings from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
More than 400 firefighters took part in the nine-hour battle to save the 12th-century cathedral on Monday evening.
They were able to save the iconic belfries, rose windows, organ and precious artworks.
No one was killed in the fire, which occurred during a mass, after firefighters and church officials speedily evacuated the building.
Among those to be honoured is Paris fire brigade chaplain Jean-Marc Fournier, who helped salvage the crown of thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion.
Another is Myriam Chudzinski, among the first firefighters to reach the roof as the blaze raged.
Loaded with gear, they climbed hundreds of steps up a narrow spiral staircase to the top of one of the two towers. She had trained at the cathedral for just this moment.
‘We knew that the roof was burning, but we didn’t really know the intensity,’ she told reporters.
‘It was from upstairs that you understood that it was really dramatic. It was very hot and we had to retreat, retreat. It was spreading quickly.’
She heard a roar, but her focus was on saving the tower. She learned later that it was the sound of the spire collapsing.
Investigators believe the fire was accidental and are questioning cathedral staff and workers who were carrying out renovations to the building before the fire broke out.
Some 40 people have been questioned and some are being quizzed again, on Thursday, according the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Fire officials warn that the massive cathedral remains fragile, and are removing statues above the rose windows to keep them from falling.
An initial fire alert was sounded at 6.20pm as a mass was under way in the cathedral, but no fire was found. A second alarm went off at 6.43pm and the blaze was discovered on the roof.
Mr. Macron wants to rebuild the cathedral within five years – in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics that Paris is hosting – but experts have questioned whether that is realistic, given the vast scale of the work.
One said the rebuilding project would easily take 15 years. More than £750 million has been pledged for the restoration. (DailyMail)
