The cross of the Notre Dame Cathedral will soon be restored, according to the restorers, writes the French magazine Valeurs actuelles on May 7.
The cross, almost 13 m high, was the only element of the altar ceiling that managed to resist the destructive effects of the flames during the fire that consumed the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in April 2019. Although it fell, the cross escaped destruction.
Its restoration will soon be completed and it will shine in its splendor, straightened, decorated with foliage and details of iron, copper and lead. Almost a hundred pieces were recovered and restored in the forges of the workshop located in the Norman countryside.
“Imagine two tons falling, crushing the structure. But we were able to give it all back.”said Alexander Gyuri, owner of Iron Art Forge.
According to him, the main difficulty was to understand the mechanism of formation of details and patterns from individual elements. In addition, a search was carried out for traces of the tools that were used in this case. All of this, in short, allowed, as the blacksmith pointed out, to reproduce the work of his predecessors and give the desired shape to the curves and slopes so that the cross corresponded to the frame before the fire. This required more than a thousand hours of work over the last 8 months for metallurgist Florent Boutrois.
“I was deeply moved that this cross was restored””, highlighted Bishop Olivier Ribado-Dumas, rector of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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