A Few Links the Morning After

Hybrid laser-scan/panorama photographs may be used to help rebuild Notre-Dame: Vassar Professor Andrew Tallon uses laser scanners to make incredibly detailed 3-D maps of ancient structures such as Notre-Dame cathedral, accurate to half a centimeter, originally to try to understand the methods of ancient builders. But his scanning maps (which he merges with panoramic photographs) of Notre-Dame could well become invaluable in the rebuilding and reconstruction process.

Because Andrew clambers around on ledges far above the stone floors of cathedrals, he refers to himself as a "tacklehead" rather than a gearhead. But you'll recognize a kindred spirit, albeit one with a honed sense of specific mission in life. Fascinating stuff!

Notre-Dame from the air. A photograph from the National Geographic
archives taken by the U.S. Army Air Service (cropped).

Notre-Dame from the archives of National Geographic: In the same article is a link to a selection of archive photographs of Notre-Dame over the years. Not exhaustive, but nicely inclusive. A portfolio worth seeing.

Bad coverage and good: Foraging for information, I happened across an almost absurdly hackneyed "news" clip from CBS News that managed to make even yesterday's epic conflagration seem rote and dull. They interviewed a fire chief from Philly talking about the difficulties of battling church blazes. Original. Forgive the sarcasm; actually it was straight out of the "When You Can't Think of Anything Else to Do" playbook. You almost knew what the chief was going to say before he said it, and the interview could do double duty for any little church fire in any little town anywhere. Really? Can't even work up a little juice when it's looking like we're losing one of the great wonders of the world's heritage?

By contrast, Frida Ghitis on CNN, employing the recently outmoded written word, got closer to the core of the event in her article "Watching Notre Dame burn, the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and foreboding—reminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sense—real or imagined—that we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious, so it was good she didn't add to her litany, "...a judgement." 

Soaring buttresses: I'm not normally a fan of Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist at a liberal paper, but he was inspired to write a beautiful essay this morning (speaking of judgements). He had been in the middle of writing a column about the troubles of the Catholic Church and was forced to incorporate the news of the fire into his thoughts, and—whether out of necessity or out of courage—he let the bones of both influences show through. The result embodied the sense of interruption that public catastrophes impose on us. He was focusing on the schism inherent in Benedict vs. Francis, the conservative and liberal strains within Catholicism, but returned to the idealism of rebirth, apropos Easter: "The church has always depended on synthesis and integration. That has been part of its genius, a reason for all its unexpected resurrections and regenerations. Faith and reason, Athens and Jerusalem, the aesthetic and the ascetic, the mystical and the philosophical—even the crucifix itself, two infinite lines converging and combining."

David Aschkenas: Finally, TOP reader David Aschkenas has put together a small portfolio of his pictures from the interior of Notre-Dame, taken over the years.

Mike

[CORRECTION: According to The Washington Post, Andrew Tallon died last year, and should have been referred to in the past tense. It brings up another wrinkle, however—the Post also references the fact that no one knows exactly where the late Prof. Tallon's laser scans of Notre-Dame are. Thanks to Ken Berke for this. —Ed.]

P.S. Most of this comes via the New York Times, by the way, my morning read; I'm cribbing from David Leonhardt. (Other still-functioning, not-yet-compromised newspapers are The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and I routinely read The Atlantic and The New Yorker [on paper, which you must admit is quaint] and visit the BBC.) The Times, which I sometimes refer to as "the world's best photography magazine," has plentiful and robust photographic content, although it can sometimes be a challenge to corral it all. I officially recommend a subscription to the Times for the excellent photography articles. You can access ten articles per month for free. But subscribe. It's worth it.

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(Not) everything must fade away

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kenneth Tanaka: "Thanks to David Aschkenas for sharing his Notre-Dame images. Also, you have a delightful collection of very well-seen international street images, David. I plan to take a deeper your of your work later this week."

Moose: "Re '"the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and
foreboding—reminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sense—real or imagined—that we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious.'

"I don't get it. This hyperbole and these feelings are highly personal; she and you are treating them as universal. It's an old church, Catholic, in France. Churches have been burning since the first one was built. Old iconic structures have burned or been otherwise destroyed, intentionally or by accident forever. Yes, I've seen this one. No, I have no emotional attachment to it.

"We are in Bhutan at the moment, where the central temple of the iconic symbol of the country was was destroyed by fire in 1998 <i>". . . leaving the country in mourning for their holiest of spiritual places. But religious leaders and the King . . . Today, the magnificent temple is completely rebuilt to its original glory. Another monastery destroyed by fire has been rebuilt, all but the altar in a new style. It's glorious, literally awe inspiring, at least to us and our travel friends! Every old fortress, temple, monastery, etc. that one visits has a history of fire and rebuilding, it's only a question of how many times. Getting so worked up about this one, seems a bit like getting hysterical when the sun goes down. It's something that happens regularly, and won't stop. The sun will rise again, as will Notre-Dame."

Chris Fuller: "I was surprised by my response to the news about this tragic event: I mourned and I wept. I mourned for a building, a collection of stones and glass. But it is a collection of stones and glass arranged in patterns of inestimable and moving beauty. It is one of those special places where history, culture, religion, and personal aspiration intersect with one another in a way that is rare anywhere in the world. It's a place that feels still even as thousands of people traverse through it. It's the place that gave birth to the University of Paris, and, thus, it stands as a monument what is good about the Western tradition (without denying this same tradition's many problems). I'm Catholic, so maybe that's part of it. But my Protestant and atheist friends also mourned and wept. So, maybe there is also more to it."

Comments

[Keith Smith]

There are quite a few high res photo on the gigapan site.

[Speed]

Yesterday's in-the-moment graphic/video coverage from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal appeared to be pulled from social media -- a rich but low-quality source for such material. This morning, both were running images and videos from wire services (are they still called that?) which were more (I'm searching for a word here) satisfying (didn't find it).

There is art and craft in high quality news images. And plenty of technology that neither Apple nor Google have managed to pack into a phone. Yet.

[Rob Graves]

According to ‘The Atlantic’ in an article discussing the rebuilding of Notre Dame, Andrew Tallon passed away last year:
“Andrew Tallon, a pioneering architectural historian and father of four, died on November 16, 2018, from brain cancer. He was 49.”
An awful tragedy, contrasted against the devastation of Notre Dame.

[Randy Cole]

Mike - It could be that you missed it; the article says that, tragically, Prof. Tallon passed away last year from brain cancer, leaving a wife and four children. His data will certainly be used in rebuilding Notre Dame, and perhaps there will be something inside that notes his role.

[Ken]

"Vassar Professor Andrew Tallon uses laser scanners to make incredibly detailed 3-D maps of ancient structures..."

FYI, according to the Washington Post, Andrew Tallon of Vassar died last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/16/craftsmen-built-notre-dame-eight-centuries-ago-now-it-may-be-up-robots-save-it/

[Thomas Paul McCann]

And unlike St Pauls in London they never charged for entry

[Rob Campbell]

Thing is, in today's world of barbaric, ritualised slaughter of civilians and beheadings of news photographers et al. a burning building really, partisan emotions aside, counts for not a lot.

The place was already falling perpetually behind its restoration targets (so I have read repeatedly but cannot, of course prove) and in the measure of 9/11 fails to count for very much.

Stones are just stones, and in the case of churches, monies diverted to the glories of sects, monies otherwise better spent feeding the poor and the destitute, which is supposedly the purpose of such western religion.

Unfortunate for the tourist market. Not a major catastrophe for some poor schmuch trying to pay the light bills.

[You need to read more Stephen Pinker, specifically his books The Better Angles of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now. They make the case very convincingly that violence is steadily diminishing and wealth is steadily increasing and equalizing despite greatly increased population numbers. And "progress is not just material but moral," writes Pinker; "the world has abolished human sacrifice, slavery, heretic-burning, witch hunts, duelling, apartheid and male-only suffrage. It is also decimating child labour, capital punishment and the criminalisation of homosexuality." Granted, I don't think he is adequately accounting for environmental effects, which I believe will be the overriding issue of humanity in the 21st century.

The trouble with your comment is that it's the sort of attitude that stalls every discussion and every concern, like a 14-year-old saying "yeah, but we're all going to die in the end" to every topic of conversation. Cultural and artistic heritage matters much more to me than any number of peoples' need to pay light bills. Mankind cannot live by bread alone. --Mike]

[Speed]

Reason reports ...

At the time of the game’s release, Caroline Miousse, senior level artist, told The Verge she spent the better part of two years working on the game’s virtual version of the cathedral. [ … ] In a separate interview, she said she based some of her designs on historical blueprints.

[ … ]

Ubisoft, the developer behind Unity, announced today that it will give away the PC version of game for free this week, allowing anyone to experience its recreation of Notre Dame. The company will also donate €500,000 (or about $564,000) to the preservation effort. It’s obviously not the same as the real thing, but I’m glad it exists anyway; thanks to a video game, some version of Notre Dame, or at least the cathedral’s digital descendant, is still open for virtual tourism.

https://reason.com/2019/04/17/will-this-violent-mediocre-video-game-help-rebuild-notre-dame/

Maybe Ubisoft has Prof. Tallon's laser scans. :)

[Timothy Auger]

Comment about the fire expert - too harsh.

Maybe I saw a different interview here in Singapore, but I found analysis by people who handle other church files quite interesting. The scale may be different but the principles are the same. A vast volume of air, to feed a fire in a vulnerable roof structure. A fire-trap void between stone vaulting and the roof proper, populated by combustible timber - all virtually inaccessible to firefighters. The fire at York Minster was started by a lightning strike, but is an interesting precedent. The original St Paul's Cathedral (on a huge scale) was destroyed by fire. Several others over the centuries all over Europe.

All these precedents are interesting, are all those fires that start during the course of restoration work (as in Windsor Castle). What's the betting on some worker leaving a smouldering cigarette butt in a pile of dust and debris?

Final rant: I was as devastated as anyone watching the fire on television. I now find the very public commitments by rich celebrities to the cost of restoration a bit too close to virtue-signalling for comfort. These are people who resist contributing to the public good through higher taxes, but are now enjoying the warm glow of public approbation.

Really the final rant: I wish they were not having a public competition for the design of the replacement flèche, or spire. They'll end up with some fashionable gimmick, when a rebuild of the original (admittedly 19th-century not mediaeval) would have been more appropriate.

Fire-prevention specialists and manufacturers of alarm systems are about to make a fortune.

[Graeme Scott]

Notre Dame will be rebuilt. It won't be identical to the original medieval Notre Dame but the cathedral that burned wasn't the original medieval Notre Dame. Most medieval European churches & cathedrals have evolved over hundreds of years: They've undergone additions, repairs ( very often after fire damage ), fashion driven renovations & have been generally buggered about with often at the whim of the rich & powerful of the day.* Medieval spires sometimes had to be rebuilt after they had fallen down because they'd been built too high.

The loss of a 19th century church spire is nothing to get too upset about: 19th century church spires are ubiquitous in Europe. There are probably at least half a dozen in the little town I live in.

This is also an opportunity of sorts: There will be years of work for skilled stonemasons, woodworkers, stained glass makers & conservators of old stuff. Hopefully the amount of work required will lead to a bunch of youngsters being trained up in the relevant disciplines.It would be nice if some of these kids were lifted from the ranks of the homeless of Europe. There'll definitely be work for technically decent photographers as there'll be a hell of a lot of documentation required.

Academics will get funding to write stuff which only other academics will ever read.

Because of the extent of the damage to the building it may be necessary to dig more deeply into the fabric of the building than during a normal restoration. This could lead to some interesting discoveries.

If you're ever in Blighty & want to see some REAL medieval check this out:

http://kilpeckchurch.org.uk

Best wishes to yourself & the doggies.

PS The suggestions that the fire could have been brought under control sooner by repeatedly dropping tons of water onto the roof of the cathedral from helicopters are pure genius.