Notre-Dame scaffolding to be removed

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A10

June 9, 2020

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Notre-Dame scaffolding to be removed

Source: AFP | 00:00 UTC+8 June 9, 2020 |

Print Edition

Workers at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris yesterday began the delicate task of removing tons of metal scaffolding that melted together during the fire that destroyed the monument’s roof and spire last year, one of the riskiest operations in the rebuilding effort so far.

Around 40,000 tubes were fused into a tangled mass in the intense heat of the blaze, and must be removed without further damaging the limestone walls supporting the gothic vault.

Half of the metal remains suspended some 40 meters above the church’s floor.

“When all this is taken care of, we’ll be extremely relieved because the cathedral will have been saved,” said Christophe Rousselot, director general of the Fondation Notre-Dame, the charity that is overseeing the collection of donations to the cathedral.

“Pieces of the scaffolding could fall and weaken parts of the walls,” he said, describing the work as “very complicated, with a sizable degree of risk.”

A telescopic lift carried workers into the middle of the structure for a last evaluation, and a towering crane installed at the site brought up equipment.

Later this week, workers will be suspended by ropes to start sawing apart the scaffolding, an operation expected to last through the summer, Rousselot said.

The scaffolding had been installed for a renovation of the spire that was being carried out when the fire erupted on the evening of April 15, 2019.

World

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Notre-Dame scaffolding to be removed

Email this to your friend