© Contributed by the San Diego Union Tribune A crane lifts part of the new roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris near Angers, western France, Thursday, May 25, 2023. The carpenters who built the new wooden frame for the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris used the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For him, working with hand axes to make oak logs was like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer) ((Jeffrey Schaeffer/Associated Press))If time travel were possible, medieval carpenters would have been amazed to see how the woodworking techniques they developed during the construction of Notre Dame more than 800 years ago are being used to repair the fire-damaged roof of a now world-renowned monument. .
Of course, the opposite is true for modern carpenters using medieval skills. Working with hand axes to carve hundreds of tons of oak to frame Notre Dame's new roof is like stepping back in time. This gave them the opportunity to re-evaluate the work of their predecessors, who in the 13th century.
"Sometimes it's a bit confusing," says Peter Henrickson, one of the carpenters. He says that sometimes, while hammering with the chisel, he thinks about how his medieval counterpart 900 years ago "cut almost the same joint". "
"It's exciting," he said. "We probably think the same thing."
Using hand tools to repair a roof that turned to ash in 2019 is a deliberate and conscious decision, not to mention that power tools will definitely get the job done faster. Its purpose is to honor the extraordinary craftsmanship of the cathedral's original builders and to preserve centuries of wood craftsmanship.
"We want to restore this cathedral to the way it was built in the Middle Ages," said retired French army general Jean-Louis Georgelin, who oversaw the renovations.
"It's a way of being loyal to all the people who built all the wonderful monuments in France."
With the December 2024 deadline for the cathedral's reopening now closed, carpenters and architects are also using computer-aided design and other modern technologies to speed up the renovation work. Using computers, carpenters create detailed plans to ensure the hand-cut beams fit together perfectly.
"Traditional carpenters have a lot on their minds," says Henrickson. "It's amazing to think how they managed with what they had, the tools and the technology they had at the time."
61-year-old American from Grande Marais, Minnesota. Most of the other wood frame craftsmen are French.
The renovation of the roof marked a milestone in May, when most of the new wooden exchanges were assembled and installed in workshops in the Loire Valley in western France.
The trials convinced the architects that the canopy served its purpose. Next time it will be placed on top of the cathedral. Unlike in the Middle Ages, it was brought to Paris with a mechanical crane and lifted into place. About 1,200 trees were cut down for the work.
"Our goal was to restore the wooden structure to the condition it was lost in the fire of April 15, 2019," said architect Remy Fromont, who made detailed drawings of the original panels in 2012.
The restored skeleton is "the same 13th-century wooden structure," he said. "We have the same material: oak. We have the same tools, the same axes and the same tools. We have the same knowledge. And soon it will return to where it came from.
"This," he added, "is a real awakening."
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John Lester contributed to this report from Paris.
This story originally appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
