The spire of Notre Dame collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in Paris on April 15. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images)
The spire of Notre Dame collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in Paris on April 15. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images)
The spire of Notre Dame collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in Paris on April 15. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images)
Insider

‘This Restoration Will Take at Least a Decade’

Despite being spared the worst, Notre Dame is not out of danger, says the building expert Caroline Bruzelius.

hirsh-michael-foreign-policy-columnist
hirsh-michael-foreign-policy-columnist
Michael Hirsh
By , a columnist for Foreign Policy.

Caroline Bruzelius, an architectural historian at Duke University, has scaled the heights of Notre Dame in ways that few people have—and she is thus all too aware of how fragile the cathedral remains in spite of being saved from total devastation during Monday night’s raging fire. Bruzelius, an expert in Gothic cathedrals, studied the revered structure closely from top to bottom nearly four decades ago when scaffolding was erected around it for cleaning, and she later wrote a scholarly article going into great detail about the building’s strengths and weaknesses. She spoke with Foreign Policy on Tuesday about the long road of reconstruction that lies ahead.

Michael Hirsh is a columnist for Foreign Policy. He is the author of two books: Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s Future Over to Wall Street and At War With Ourselves: Why America Is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World. Twitter: @michaelphirsh

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