
The remains of last year’s burning of Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral will be studied by scientists.
On April 15 of last year the world froze as an electrical fire destroyed the cathedral’s roof and spire and caused part of its vaulted ceiling to collapse. The incident was declared a national tragedy and now scientists from the French national research organization CNRS have embarked on a multimillion-euro study of the innards of the 850 year-old holy building to learn more about how the medieval masons constructed it.
Hoping their work will help with the impending restoration the scientists will examine the foundations, timber, and metalwork. Quoted in an article on Nature.com, Dr. Yves Gallet, a historian of Gothic architecture at the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, said the new research project might write a “new page in the history of Notre-Dame”, admitting there are “currently many grey areas”.
Source: origins