[sbzodnsbd]

There is no more humility. Nothing is holy anymore.

Why can we rebuild it the way it was (as much as possible) and make the fire (and therefore ourselves) an asterisk in the Cathedral’s history? Why must we etch ourselves into everything?

Want a glass cathedral? Go build one. Elsewhere.

[axlee]

The "way it was" is a 19th-century reimagination from people who obviously did not follow your advice.

[sbzodnsbd]

Far more faithful to the original than a glass roof.

The guy who did the spire did add his own touch (like any cathedral that took several centuries to build). But with subtlety!

There is nothing subtle about another steel and glass monstrosity which litters modern architecture.

Instead of looking like a place of worship it will look like a fusion of a high rise condo and a nightclub.

[dragonwriter]

> Why can we rebuild it the way it was (as much as possible) and make the fire (and therefore ourselves) an asterisk in the Cathedral’s history? Why must we etch ourselves into everything?

Because we have no choice but to do so: rebuilding it as much as possible identical to how it was is as much writing ourselves into it as novelty is, not that simple stasis has been the consistent rule in past work, anyway.

Whether Church or State or otherwise, communities are evolving entities and the work they produce says something about where they were. Supposing one both can and should mask that is a weird combination of hubris and self-hatred.

That's not to say that restoration as much as practical to the status quo ante is always wrong, but instead that choosing that should be, and be recognized as, as much of an active statement about the present community as choosing novel elements as part of reconstruction is.

[sbzodnsbd]

“Hubris and self hatred?” Can’t disagree on our hubris, but self-hatred? I can’t think of any time more narcisist than ourselves!

I want it rebuilt as close to the original because we are incapable of self-reflection.

Surely nothing we build can be devoid of ourselves, but why not leave behind subtlety?

The question is obviously rhetorical: Notre Dame is too big, too important an opportunity for some mediocre president and architect to leave their name in posterity.

[rockinghigh]

Like you, some people complained when the Baron Haussmann transformed Paris or when Eiffel erected his Tower, or when the Louvre Pyramid was built. I see it as an opportunity to make it better. All buildings in Europe that have survived this long have evolved over the centuries. The Mezquita in Cordoba is also a great example with a mosque built around a cathedral.

[sbzodnsbd]

Yeah, and a some of us are still annoyed that Mussolini razed a neighborhood and destroyed Rome just to build a modern boulevard.

[alexis_fr]

Because it’s a “new world order” kind of project, not a religious one. See Celine Dion’s new brand, that sells death-designed clothes for babies, or anything new really: The goal is to change the world for the pleasure of change and loss of roots. The goal is to lose any attachment to any tradition, custom or legacy, and make every country the same mix of multicultural pot.

Upside is, you won’t need to travel in 2030, all countries will look the same.

[fj39dkf]

FYI this is a far-right conspiracy theory, typically found among white supremacists. there is no evidence that a secret cabal is planning some kind of new world order or plotting to burn all the history books.

[lopmotr]

It can still happen without any central control. Popular culture changes. People generally don't respect churches as much as they used to. That's not a conspiracy theory. That's kids rebelling against their parents and wanting to stamp their mark on the world.

[axlee]

How can you talk about a "lack of respect" when more than a billion euros have been raised within a day to rebuild it?

[crooked-v]

Also keep in mind this conspiracy theory is often followed by goalpost-changing along the lines of "well, obviously I didn't mean that they're all actually in a conspiracy, it's because they've been influence by [other conspiracy]", generally leading either to an infinite regress of adjusted claims, or talk about cultural Marxism claptrap and claims about how the Frankfurt School academics somehow nefariously orchestrated the next hundred years of global social change in the 1930s.

[scarejunba]

The cathedral did not look in 2018 like it looked in 1260. it is fitting that it is different.