A Missed Opportunity: Notre-Dame de Paris and The Ancient Oaks of France

By Heather Stout

Do you remember the old saying, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Well, as I am writing this, old oak trees are crashing down in France in a symphony of destructive sound. What was not heard nor heeded, were the voices of some scholars, environmentalists, and others about leaving the trees where they have grown for hundreds of years. They will now become the newly restored roof supports and spire for Notre-Dame de Paris. It will take thousands of the majestic giants to complete the task. They will no longer live in their forests along with the flora and fauna. Instead, the old oak trees will be hidden below the roof of a rushed renovation and meticulously carved into an exact replica of the most recent spire.

 

Notre-Dame Paris, 15 April 2019, 20:06:33. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Notre-Dame_en_feu%2C_20h06.jpg

Where were you on April 15, 2019, when the world watched Notre-Dame’s roof and spire go up in flames? The moment that the spire came crashing down is etched into my mind. (I was in the sculpture studio watching it live on a laptop while working clay. It went on for hours.) Initially, I felt that the cathedral needed to be restored exactly as it was, give or take technological upgrades. I imagined some of the greatest art conservators in the world joining forces to bring Notre-Dame de Paris back to her former glory. Memories of visiting Paris and stepping into Notre-Dame flooded back. What a tragedy to watch it burn. My feelings about the restoration changed, however, after spending months in a course designed to research the cathedral and its development over time

“La Forêt” or “the Forest” as it was called, the supports for the roof and the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris are gone and something needs to cover the stone walls.  In the months following the fire, it seemed absurd that trees would be cut down to replace the forêt. After all, there have technological advances since the Middle Ages that should present new possibilities. President Macron initially wanted something contemporary to replace the spire, but then he changed his mind. Perhaps under pressure, he made the decision to have Notre-Dame de Paris restored as it was prior to the fire. And so the roof and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s 315 ft spire, erected in 1859, will be fully restored, exactly as they were.

The spire on fire, 15 April 2019.   LEVRIER Guillaume,
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via Wikimedia Commons.

At the time of the decision, hopes were high that modern materials would be used. After the tragic fire that the world witnessed, it seemed likely that a less flammable material than would be used to replace the parts that burned. The decision to build in wood seems to have been a rushed decision made to meet the president’s goal of having the cathedral rebuilt in five years. This will have it reopened for the Summer Olympics, scheduled to begin, July 26, 2024 in Paris. Sound and thoughtful decisions require patience and research. Restoring the wood exactly as it was in the most recent restoration of an ever evolving 850-year-old building with a rich history is a missed opportunity. 

Route forestière dans la foret de Villefermoy.  Jojo944, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

The trees for a new “forest” could have come from just about anywhere. Early on, large landowners in England offered trees for the project.  A submerged forest in Ghana was proposed as another source of timber.  But in the end, French forests were the obvious choice for wood to rebuild the cultural icon. After all, French oak is of the highest quality whether it be used to build French ships or wine caskets. Many of the first trees that came down were from the Villefermoy forest. The largest trees come from the Bercé forest which was planted during the 17th century for building the ships of the French Navy. Many of the trees that have been cut down were were young trees that bore witness to the French Revolution. The oldest and wisest of the felled trees will be used in the spire.

The French began cutting down ancient oak trees in March 2021, before the sap started to fill their veins. After being felled, the carefully selected oaks are milled. Then they must go through a drying process for twelve to eighteen months to get to below thirty percent humidity. They must be straight and strong. Perfect specimens of famed French oak. For some trunks, their fate is to be cut into 65 ft beams. These  trees bring in about $18,000 dollars each. But what is the cost of something so rare and necessary for the ecosystem and our survival? After all, we need trees to be able to breathe. 

Chêne Rouleau de la Roussière, forêt de Bercé, Sarthe, France.  Eponimm, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Drone footage helped select the trees from across France. In the bird’s-eye view footage, the forests look very small in comparison to what I expected to see. It is visually obvious that there are few trees in them in comparison to other forests around the world. Forests cover around 30% of France, of which only 0.2% is primary forest. Some oaks are being donated from private forests and those whose oaks are selected find great pride in the donation. But to whom do trees truly belong? With the state of climate change and the planet, it would seem us all. In my opinion, it is our responsibility to be more mindful of how we use natural resources.

To who that want Notre-Dame restored as they once saw it, I offer this… Take the time to learn more about who Our Lady of Paris is. Notre-Dame is an ever-evolving structure. While Viollet-le-Duc felt that she was finished after his work, we were offered a crescendo of fire as his magnum opus came crashing down. It had stood pointing to the sky for 150 years. The giant oaks have stood brushing the atmosphere for just as many, if not longer. They are necessary to the survival of insect, plant, and animal species, as well as our own. Since the cathedral’s inception in the thirteenth century, its builders have been met with challenges and held back by the limitations of their age. Getting in a time machine and recreating the cathedral is stopping intended progress. This kind of archaic thinking holds hands with environmental destruction. Future generations are not interested in suffocating under dark hidden ancient oak beams. They want innovation and advancements in architecture. They want clean air and the largest wonders of natural respite. Racing to rebuild Notre-Dame by the 2024 Olympics is short-sighted and we need to protect what few fragile natural resources are left to us. Notre-Dame de Paris deserved a chance at a re-imagined life in the 21st century.