5 years ago one of the world's most iconic buildings went up in Flames tonight nraam cathedral in Paris is completely engulfed by fire large parts of it are reduced to Rubble the roof has disappeared the Spire has collapsed inwardly many things are said to be Irreplaceable great art cultural heritage symbols of protection and hope what word should we use when it's all of these the fire started at 6:30 p.m. and was eventually brought under control by Brave fire Crews and First Responders in the early hours of the following morning nr's Spire was completely destroyed its
roof had caved in and much of its interior was devastated a cathedral that stood for 850 years was left on the brink of collapse then the extraordinary began to happen out of the ashes some of construction's most or inspiring teams defied the odds and worked to return the structure to its former glory it's a remarkable story of high pressure serious risk and painstaking craftsmanship that borders on the miraculous this is how notra D was [Music] rebuilt take a walk down to the nram site today and you'll encounter a hive of activity the cathedral is set
to reopen to the public in December 2024 only just missing its Olympic deadline but restoration Works will run on until 2028 despite the pandemic progress has been steady and Scaffolding around the new Spire was removed in March revealing just some of the breathtaking work of these construction teams this place defines Paris before the fire nraam welcomed more than 12 million visitors every year massively surpassing the Eiffel Towers 7 million and the Lou's 8 million the cathedral Towers Above This City a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and the UNESCO world heritage site but to really understand how
it earns such reverence and why rebuilding it comes with such pressure we need to give you a quick history lesson nram was first commissioned by King Louis iith he wanted to create a symbol of paris's growing cultural and economic importance in the 12th century the first brick was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163 but it took another 2 centuries to complete the building since then it's been the site of numerous Royal weddings the consecration of Napoleon as Emperor and the beautification of jonov AR now one of nr's most remarkable Feats of engineering are its
flying buttresses that's these arches you see here extending out the sides of the building and they're pretty important you see during the 12th century Architects were getting more ambitious they were designing taller Cathedrals with larger Windows allowing for incredible Interiors flooded with natural light exactly like the ones you see here inside notra Dam but these taller structures meant larger heavier walls that needed additional support and so the flying buttress was born medieval Engineers connected the main walls to exterior columns with an angled beam supported by an arch these effectively provide additional support holding the walls
up from the outside and helping to redistribute the building's weight down through additional structural elements these buttresses were built in the 13th century when when there was still a relatively New Concept which makes them all the more impressive unfortunately the French Revolution saw much of the bronze precious metals and Lead stripped from the cathedral and by the 19th century the building had fallen into disrepair Catholicism was banned in Paris and nram was looted and vandalized eventually becoming a rather Grand warehouse to store wine and that was nearly it nram had become an ancient Relic that
had been left to fall part A crumbling ruin that was all until Victor Hugo wrote a little novel that you're all familiar with safe Behind these windows and these parets of stone gazing at the people down below me Hugo believed so intensely that nram deserved to be saved that he made it the star of his 1831 story he dedicated a whole two chapters to describing the gothic Masterpiece inspiring a new generation of parisians to fall in love with the cathedral the commission on historical monuments was formed and architect Eugene VI luk was brought on to
rebuild the church he replaced the Spire that had been torn down with an even taller one nraam was an icon of Paris once again the city's stoic witness to so many centuries of History then came the 15th of April 2019 a day that left the World stunt people watched in agony as much of the great cathedral was devastated by fire its iconic Spire lost to the ashes there was an outpouring of grief not just from the French but right around the world in the wake of the disaster nearly a billion dollars was raised to help
repair the cathedral but alongside all the money and emotion there was also plenty of debate about what any rebuilt nraam should actually look like some proposed an even taller Spire in the spirit of via Duke others the world's most unusual pool or even a dramatic Greenhouse it was a time that saw countless Architects join the debate about how to recontextualize this building for the 21st century nraam looks like it would evolve once again at least for a moment now obviously when you're reconstructing something as intricate and iconic as nraam there isn't any room for error
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coding and loads more in the time it takes your morning coffee to cool down to try everything brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days scan the QR code on screen now visit brilliant.org the b1m or click the link in the description you'll also get 20% off and annual premium subscription now let's get back to the rebuilding of that iconic Cathedral it took some time but a consensus that the cathedral should be rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before eventually emerged from all the noise and that view eventually prevailed
but rebuilding an 850 year old structure in the 2020s isn't exactly easy in fact you'd be hard pushed to imagine a tougher construction project than this teams here faced an unstable structure that's an icon of France on an island in the middle of a congested city with the eyes of the world on them and a clock that was ticking down to the Paris 2024 Olympics there which challenges everywhere you looked for one you couldn't use the same Stones the original building was made of because they came from quaries that no longer existed but we're getting
ahead of ourselves a bit because before any of that the building first had to be stabilized and made safe and that process alone took 2 years those flying buttresses I mentioned earlier that were so revolutionary at the time and that helped give nraam that huge soaring Nave also left the structure incredibly fragile in the aftermath of the fire if just one of them were to give way the entire Cathedral could collapse repairing them was a careful and painstaking process to ensure worker safety during this time motion sensors were installed right across the nram ruin they
would be triggered by strong winds or any movement on the ground and sound an alarm warning people to evacuate to hold the buttresses in place while they were strengthened and rebuilt Timber decking was placed underneath them that decking alone had to be custom made for each of the 28 buttresses catering to their 28 unique forms workers could then go inside the church and stabilize the walls from the inside using scaffolding to keep the rain out and create a safe dry space to work in a large tarpum was placed over the areas of roof that have
burned away when the fire ignited restoration Works were already taking place at the Cathedral and several layers of scaffolding surrounded the Spire when the Spire collapsed that scaffolding became twisted and melted a tangled web of metal that weighed almost 200 tons on its own with the church stabilized that molten mess had to be removed half of the melted scaffolding was some 90 M High making access a complicated task again before work started sensors were placed here to monitor for any sudden movements and keep workers safe a secondary temporary structure made of steel beams was then
built across three levels above the melted scaffolding specially trained technicians then used used that to abale down on ropes getting as close to the structure as they could they would then cut away and collect the melted pieces of metal removing them from the cathedral once that was done a huge crane would lift the rest away with that challenging step completed work on rebuilding the famous Spire could finally begin the stool the part of the building the Spire sits on was built in Bri a city in northeastern France some 40 Carpenters carefully selected oak trees for
the 110 pieces of the stool jigsaw perfectly matching it with that of the original Spire they then had to assemble it in their workshops to make sure every piece would fit before disassembling it and sending it onto Paris with the stool in place the Spire could then take shape above it rising to a height of nearly 100 m across the spire and the Nave nearly 1,200 year old trees were selected from around French forests the new Spire was crowned with a Golden Rooster this time reimagined as a phoenix emerging From the Ashes it's a really
nice touch that was intended to symbolize The Rebirth of the church and it's filled with the names of everyone who's worked on the restoration the church's famous stained glass windows were also left badly damaged by the fire they had to be cleaned and even replaced in some cases four of the windows ended up being donated from Germany's Cologne Cathedral nram also contained France's largest musical instrument an 800 th piece organ when the fire started it was left covered in a layer of lead dust and had to be taken apart carefully cleaned and then reassembled the
shocking nram fire is a potent reminder that no building is eternal and that our iconic structures depend on each generation of dedicated caretakers to keep them standing gently guiding them onto the next chapter in history two things have helped restore nraam the love of the French people and the extraordinary construction teams who have made miracles happen the same two forces that rebuilt this icon in 1844 after years of lying in disrepair have now rebuilt it again in the 21st century this video was sponsored by brilliant you can learn more about that at the link below
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