Today we’re going for a walk that will take us by Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine river where the mighty Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris stands. It’s been a month since the fire. I don’t know why I want to see Notre Dame after the fire. I just do.
It seemed like the whole world was watching as Notre Dame burned that day, April 15th, 2019. The fire is believed to have started by something related to ongoing restoration construction, but the exact cause hasn’t been determined. We were visiting a month after the fire, in May.
Our plan for the day is to start at Pont Marie, the bridge that crosses the Seine by passing through Île Saint-Louis. From there, we’ll make our way to the Left Bank, walk past Notre Dame, then meander back to Montorgueil.
Île Saint-Louis
We Ubered over to Pont Marie, then crossed over to Île Saint-Louis. Île Saint-Louis is like a little oasis in the heart of Paris – an oasis for people with lots of euros. There are few tourists and only the occasional car on the narrow streets. The buildings are clean and classy in the traditional French style. Well-tended flower boxes add pops of color to the stone exteriors. One of the few attractions for tourists on Île Saint-Louis is the Berthillon ice cream shop. It’s supposed to have the best ice cream that euros can buy.
We left Île Saint-Louis via Pont Saint Louis, walking across the bridge and the tip of Île de la Cité to reach the Left Bank. From there we turned to walk along Quai de Montebello, which is about as close as one can get to Notre Dame these days.
This is one of those places along the Seine where booksellers – les bouquinistes – have been selling their wares for hundreds of years. They’re still here, busier than ever with tourists like us who want to get a close look at Notre Dame.
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
As we approached Notre Dame, my overriding thought wasn’t about the damage, but how huge it is. I had forgotten about that. Even though we’re not really that close, it looms overhead. It’s just massive.
A portion of the roof –or where the roof used to be – is covered with scaffolding. For a second I thought reconstruction had already started. Then I realized that this was the scaffolding that was there during the fire.
It turns out that dismantling the wrecked scaffolding safely, without doing any further damage, presents quite a challenge. And the scaffolding has to come down before anything can go up.
Another issue is that tons of lead burned that day, spreading lead “dust” over part of the city. Tons of lead remain in the structure. Lead is bad news. Because of issues like these, no actual reconstruction is expected to begin before 2021.
But How to Rebuild?
And when they are ready to start rebuilding, then what? Regarding the decision about how to rebuild, there are two camps: the “reproduce the original as closely as possible” camp, and the “build something new” camp. According to public opinion polls, most French people want it to be rebuilt as it was, but so far, the government hasn’t nixed the idea of an international competition for architects to design something new.
The great cathedral is still impressive, even in its current, sad state. There’s something special about it. It’s hard to imagine people living in the 12th century even considering such a structure. (Divine inspiration, perhaps?) It took a hundred years to build it. They finished in 1260.
Over the years, people grew tired of medieval buildings cluttering up their cities, getting in the way of progress. They’re big, cold, dark, and in the way. In the 19th century, the trend was to get rid of them, or (even worse, probably), modernize them.
Enter Victor Hugo
One person who retained an appreciation of medieval architecture was Victor Hugo. In 1831, he wrote a book that he hoped would get people to take an interest. The book was titled, “Notre Dame de Paris.” We know it as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Have you read it? If you’re thinking about reading some classic French literature, you could do worse than choosing “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” It’s easy to read, and it really grabs you.
It’s set in Paris in the 15th century. Many of the sites and buildings mentioned in the book are still around, which is kind of neat. It’s a story about an endearing fellow by the name of Quasimodo. He’s the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Quasimodo’s guardian, an archdeacon named Frollo, has the hots for a beautiful gypsy girl named Esmeralda. He’s got it bad, so he orders Quasimodo to kidnap her. The plan goes awry, and Quasimodo ends up in the pillory. Even though he had tried to kidnap her, Esmeralda pities him. She gives him a drink of water, probably saving his life. Now it’s Quasimodo who’s head-over-heels in love with Esmeralda.
After a few plot twists involving a memorable cast of characters, Esmeralda gets in trouble with the law. She’s sentenced to be hanged, but there’s no way Quasimodo is going to let that happen. Things get wild on the way to the gallows.
To be continued…
