I was lucky enough to attend a concert in Notre Dame in 2016. It was a concert by the Københavns Drengekor, with Danish Royalty in attendance. I have to say the combination of magnificent singing with such a spectacular and historic venue made it a very special concert. So I for one am very hopefully they can restore the cathedral to former glory.
As for the restoration destroying the feel of the place. In my opinion if this was a complete rebuilt from ground up, I might agree. But much of the building remains, many of the artworks and artefacts were saved, so while there will be new bits, a substantial part of the building will remain "original". I have put original in quotes there because, to echo Tully, Cathedrals are continuously restored and improved or altered over time. Take Ely for example, built in phases, parts of it fell down, and it was restored several times. Did any of that detract from it being quite a stunning venue for the Libera concerts? In my opinion it only adds to the history, adds to the story, and allows this generation to put their mark on it for the future.
Perhaps in 100 years time a French boy will be visiting the cathedral on a guided tour and shown the restored roof will proudly say, my great-grandfather worked on that!
Even stonehenge had some restoration work done...
- P1030117.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 9470 times
- P1030117.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 9470 times
