From CNN.com
Those looking for hope amid the devastation of Notre Dame will be heartened by French President Emmanuel Macron's assurance that the French will "rebuild together," and immediate fundraising efforts leading to
pledges of 50 million euros ($56 million) and 200 million euros ($226 million) from Paris' City Hall and the luxury goods and fashion house LVMH, respectively.
Assuming the requisite funding is found, how will the process be carried out?
Before distinguishing between the salvageable and the unrecoverable, immediate steps will need to be taken to prevent further damage, architectural historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle explains.
"It's already a wet building because of the water that's been pumped on it, so they're going to need to provide some kind of cover from the elements," he told CNN.
"The roof's job was to discharge thousands of tons of water, so where's that going to go? Every time it rains it's going to cause damage at this point, so it's a war of attrition now."
French authorities will ultimately need to take a series of design decisions over how best to rebuild. To do so, they will need to better understand how the medieval cathedral was constructed in the first place.
But the goal of restoration is not always to replicate the past, and modern tastes and technologies may influence how damaged structures are reimagined.Yeah, they might throw in a minaret or two, to please the Muslims and acknowledge the 50% Muslim reality of modern-day Paris.