Tiki Tom
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“Is Paris Burning?”
It will be impossible to reconstruct it as it was since some of the wooden beams were so wide that there are no longer any trees left with such girth.
Reading about the history of the building, it's interesting how much of it's been renovated and rebuilt over the years anyway, like the proverbial Grandfather's Axe. The spire that collapsed was only about a hundred and seventy years old, not 800, and even some of the exterior stone is replacement. So in the long run, as awful as it is, this fire will go down as just another chapter in the long history of the building.
Yes, money is being pledged from all over the world right now as emotions are running high but in a few weeks when the dust settles & things are put into perspectve, donations may be considerably less than calculated.I saw something this morning saying that over 400 million euros of private money has already been pledged to a rebuild. Of course that’s just pledged, we’ll see how much actually arrives. But it’s a good sign that money will not be an issue.
And who insures such a thing? I’m assuming the cathedral is owned by the church? Some things just go far beyond monetary compensation; if they’re gone, they’re gone...they cannot be replaced for an infinite amount of money.
I was just going to post something like this. In 200 years, people will be talking about the 21st century fire, perhaps it’s even just a footnote.
As for insurance, it was surely insured by the state, Paris too may have insurance & then there will be the insurance of the various restauration companies should one or several be found responible.
The US government just pays whatever it costs for anything.
Indeed & if I may put my cynical hat on here, the enthousiasm of the French ruling classes to rebuild the damaged part of the cathedral has less to do with history than it does with tourism, after all the old lady attracts millions of visiters every year.
What I mean is, what company underwrites a policy on a world heritage site like that? What would said policy look like? How much are the premiums? Not doubting, just curious about how that works on something for which the historical and cultural value cannot be measured and far exceeds any potential monetary value. For example, the White House is not insured. The US government just pays whatever it costs for anything. I would have thought something similar in this case, but I don’t know.
Still. I can't help but think that something is lost each time an ancient structure is rebuilt.