French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced today the launch of an “international architectural competition” to rebuild the spire destroyed in the fire that ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The competition “will allow us to ask the question of whether we should even recreate the spire as it was or whether we should endow Notre-Dame with a new spire, suited to the techniques and challenges of our time,” explained the French Prime Minister after completing a Cabinet meeting exclusively dedicated to the rebuilding of the cathedral.
The wooden 93-metre lead-covered spire was only added in the mid-19th century by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. It collapsed while in flames and its image became one of the symbols of the disaster.
The architectural competition will be included in the “Notre-Dame” bill, which will provide the legal framework for the national campaign for the reconstruction of the cathedral, and will also provide for generous tax break for donors.
The bill will benefit French individuals with 75% tax reduction for private donations up to 1,000 and 66% beyond. Companies will have statutory tax relief for grants, the prime minister said.
Source: ANA-MPA
