Hey, Macron: Don’t you dare modernize Notre Dame!
04/23/2019
On Tuesday night, the president incautiously stated that a "more beautiful" cathedral would be rebuilt "in five years," to general incredulity. More beautiful than what? And had Macron turned structural engineer overnight?
Preposterous "concept drawings" appeared almost immediately on social media. A twisted concrete spire in pure Dubai style. A transparent roof with plate-glass windows, more suited to an elevated railroad station. And worse.
Fury
ensued. We French wanted our cathedral back, not some megalomaniac statement by
a publicity-hungry architect eager to make his mark on Notre Dame.