As for what happens next, no one seems sure yet. In a statement, Macron insisted the cathedral would be rebuilt. And even if France finds the money to do so, what exactly will that entail? An exact copy, perhaps using Tallon’s scans? Something different? “This has not ever happened before in my lifetime, so I don’t have a paradigm to go to,” Bork says. “Original hand craftsmanship is irreplaceable. When you restore it, it’s not exactly the same thing. You lose information. You can tell sometimes when a stone has been carved by the kind of chisel marks on it. You can tell sometimes the chemical content of the mortar.”
That texture and detail—and the knowledge to be gained by studying it—is what a fire burns away. A new wall doesn’t contain any of that, even if it looks exactly like what once stood. “Do we clean it up and make it all look unified, or do we try to let the memory remain?” Bork asks. “Every time they have a cathedral that needs restoration and tender loving care, there’s the question of, do you make it Disneyland, or do you let it decay? In this case, God willing, the cathedral will have some of its original structure left, and they’ll put it back as best as they can.”
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