Donations for Notre Dame Restoration

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We are all aware of the horrible fire that severely damaged Notre Dame in Paris. Once they have announced where donations should be sent (perhaps they have done this and I just missed it today) I would suggest that Americans who want to donate send checks in the amount of $17.88. For those who don’t recognize the number, 1788 is the year of the US-French Treaty of Alliance that ultimately led to US independence. I’m not suggesting that people not give more, but I think it would be nice if they included a check in that amount. Relations between the US and France have not always been good, but here and now they should be. And for the record, I’m not suggesting that anyone should be expected to donate.
 
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chevyontheriver

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We are all aware of the horrible fire that severely damaged Notre Dame in Paris. Once they have announced where donations should be sent (perhaps they have done this and I just missed it today) I would suggest that Americans who want to donate send checks in the amount of $17.88. For those who don’t recognize the number, 1788 is the year of the US-French Treaty of Alliance that ultimately led to US independence. I’m not suggesting that people not give more, but I think it would be nice if they included a check in that amount. Relations between the US and France have not always been good, but here and now they should be. And for the record, I’m not suggesting that anyone should be expected to donate.
Or multiples thereof.
 
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jacks

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HERE is a place to donate. But careful there will likely be many scam places out there like with other disasters. What's perplexing though is the site says that about 110 million will be needed, but as of today there has already been nearly 1 billion dollars donated...
 
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tampasteve

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HERE is a place to donate. But careful there will likely be many scam places out there like with other disasters. What's perplexing though is the site says that about 110 million will be needed, but as of today there has already been nearly 1 billion dollars donated...
I believe the 110 Million was the pre-fire amount to help the renovations and upkeep....
 
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Ttalkkugjil

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We are all aware of the horrible fire that severely damaged Notre Dame in Paris. Once they have announced where donations should be sent (perhaps they have done this and I just missed it today) I would suggest that Americans who want to donate send checks in the amount of $17.88. For those who don’t recognize the number, 1788 is the year of the US-French Treaty of Alliance that ultimately led to US independence. I’m not suggesting that people not give more, but I think it would be nice if they included a check in that amount. Relations between the US and France have not always been good, but here and now they should be. And for the record, I’m not suggesting that anyone should be expected to donate.

A grand idea.

We Canadians, on the other hand, have no "Canadian-French Treaty of Alliance." Therefore, I shall be pleased to donate the amount of $0.00.
 
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chevyontheriver

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The damage is so massive, might as well build entirely new building.
Depends. There may not be the trained craftsmen to fix what's left. That's a big problem with restoration of older buildings. So restoring may be impossible. On the other hand, it took a century or so to build it and it could take decades to repair it, including training craftsmen to do the work in a quality way to the high standards of the original workmanship.

A new building would probably look pretty crass. George Weigel had an interesting book called 'The Cube and the Cathedral' about architecture. He compared two Paris buildings, the 'Cube' which is naked Modernism, and Notre Dame which could capture the imagination and send the spirit soaring. A new building may look and feel more like the Cube. And the Cube excites nobody. Notre Dame did. Been there.

Grande Arche - Wikipedia

The walls are holding so far, most of the of the vault is holding, the rose windows are apparently intact. So it may mostly need a new roof and a lot of detail cleaning. The old roof was lead (some variation of Terne) on top of timber. But there are no trees in France of sufficient size to replace those old timbers, and the lead probably melted into odd puddles. A Steel frame for the roof may be smart, and the Terne can be reconstructed from the cleanup debris. New pews are the easy part. Cleaning will take years. Reconstructing the vaults will take years. For now, getting a roof on it is the critical thing, and that can be done as soon as the structural engineers determine if the walls are actually safe.

Henry VIII killed off a lot of cathedrals and monastaries in his day. Basically you start a fire and the roof burns. From there it's all downhill given enough time. If they get a roof on it I think it can be restored.

mass-in-ruined-bombed-church.jpg
 
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The damage is so massive, might as well build entirely new building.
No, it appears that parts of the original structure can be salvaged.
 
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tampasteve

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A new building would probably look pretty crass. George Weigel had an interesting book called 'The Cube and the Cathedral' about architecture. He compared two Paris buildings, the 'Cube' which is naked Modernism, and Notre Dame which could capture the imagination and send the spirit soaring. A new building may look and feel more like the Cube. And the Cube excites nobody. Notre Dame did. Been there.

Grande Arche - Wikipedia

Ug, isn't that the truth. I have been to Paris a few times, and every time I went to Notre Dame and Arc de Triomphe - I only bothered to go to the Grande Arche the first time.
 
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Something needs to tell the guy who donated 200 million euros......that he was way off.

I like the idea.
As I said, he is free to give more. I just hope that Americans will include a check for $17.88 in their giving.
 
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chevyontheriver

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Ug, isn't that the truth. I have been to Paris a few times, and every time I went to Notre Dame and Arc de Triomphe - I only bothered to go to the Grande Arche the first time.
I'd rather see the ruins of Notre Dame than the Cube. You saw my included picture a few posts up here? Even a ruin can have a sense of sacredness. True, God can be found everywhere and anywhere, but a place like Notre Dame successfully made the distance between heaven and earth very short within it's walls. If they don't mess it up, it still may.

I have another thing to add to my bucket list. To go visit the restored Notre Dame in Paris.
 
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