Notre Dame fire: Finding hope amid the damage
The smoke has stopped billowing. The rose windows are intact. The tears have dried. Watching Notre Dame burn was heart-wrenching, but the cathedral still stands, and will, as it has since its construction.
President Macron has already committed to rebuilding the cathedral, even if his five-year estimate seems a bit ambitious. Money has been pouring in for the efforts, not without criticism, and preliminary looks at the damage reveal a lot of work to do, but the cathedral is far from devastated.
It will return not to its former glory, but to a better version of itself, for tourists and locals alike.
The stunning facade of Notre Dame before the fire. Photo: Bryan Pirolli
A lot of media has been focusing on the wooden roof that was lost, and yes, it was old. But Notre Dame is, and always has been, so much more than its roof. I never walked in and thought, “Gee, the wooden support system overhead that I can’t see must be really groovy!”
My heart sank when I thought of the rose windows shattering or the bell towers crumbling, but they’re safe for the moment. Instead of focusing on what’s lost, let’s focus on what we have and how it will benefit. A silver lining is that the cathedral will likely get a holistic revamping, instead of periodic smaller renovations that seem to only patch up holes that keep appearing. Notre Dame will be better than ever, healthier than any of us ever imagined.
A cathedral in motion
Those who mourn its loss too reverently need to study up on the thought experiment about the Ship of Theseus:
The experiment proposes that an ancient Greek ship is stored in a museum, but pieces of rotting wood are replaced over time by metal pieces. Eventually, the entire ship is made of metal. Philosophers ask, “is it still the same ship? Or is it something else?”
Soaking in Notre Dame along the Seine. Photo: Bryan Pirolli
Notre Dame poses the same question. The church has seen renovations and changes over the years — though perhaps less drastic than an entirely brand new roof — but she has always been in motion.
Don’t forget that the church you visited was upgraded in the 19th century, and the spire that fell was new, relatively speaking. What makes the church is not just the arrangement of wood and stone that builds it, but the space that it occupies, what it symbolizes, and what people take away from it.
Let’s get excited about what lies ahead because, let’s face it, our tears and emotions can’t fix anything. Imagine what architects will discover in the rubble, or what they’ll learn about Gothic architectural building methods. Imagine what new techniques will develop to reconstruct the roof, and what sorts of new features we might have to look forward to in the future.
In the meantime, she still sits on Ile de la Cite, like a beached whale that we need to keep wet with buckets of water until we figure out what to do next. She’s helpless. Pitiful, even. But she’s still there, she’s not going anywhere, and hopefully, within a few years, Notre Dame’s bells will ring again, the doors open wide, waiting for millions of tourists to pay her the respect that she has commanded for 856 years already.
A typical scene before the fire: People visiting Notre Dame. Photo: Byran Pirolli
As media attention turns to the rebuilding and the money involved, it’s easy to focus on criticism and lose sight of the bigger picture. Channeling my years of Catholic school, I am tempted to wonder if this wasn’t all some biblical lesson, a Tower of Babel or a Great Flood of sorts, a wake-up call to bigger issues. This shared human experience galvanized so many so quickly, with a billion dollars pouring in within days. Look what we’re capable of when we care, when we’re on the same page, and when we can see the hurt and share the pain.
Maybe we, as a society, can approach all aspects of life this way, whether it’s the environment, migrant families, or human rights issues. Maybe one day we can galvanize as quickly to fix these problems that, if left unaddressed, will leave us with much bigger problems than a collapsed roof.
Your thoughts about Notre Dame
Share your thoughts, concerns, or favorite memories about Notre Dame with us in the comments section below.
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I did really enjoy reading your article, Bryan. Once again you enrich it with your unique perspective.
That one Christmas Eve, we pondered the Christmas trees which hadn’t been bought and were now being swept by the wind around the abandoned lot across the street from Notre Dame. In fact all of Paris seemed abandoned. A good time for us to visit. No crowds, just a few of us Paris lovers. We became philosophical. Even a religious skeptic like me was lured into the stations of the cross within the cathedral. I remember my wife’s walking brace broke. No big deal. Why just think of the centuries the church has survived. We hobbled back to the hotel through wind-swept trees. And so it became one of our ‘memories.’ Even thought about it that time we returned and watched clandestine climbers scale the cathedral late at night. One of the guys asked me to watch out for the cops. Figure he chose me because I was wearing a beret. Hah!
Great essay, Bryan. Of course that grand lady on the Seine will survive.