PARS.- The Cathedral Our Lady of Pars, which caught fire in 2019 and is being restored, will have a new system against fire, the French authorities announced on Wednesday.
“All precautions were taken to completely rethink the fire protection” of the cathedral, which will reopen to the public on December 8, 2024, said Philippe Jost, who heads the public agency in charge of the reconstruction.
The cathedral will be able to receive “14 million visitors” annually after its reopening, that is, twice as many as before the fire, Jost added before the Cultural Affairs Commission of the National Assembly.
The new fire-fighting system will have a device “that is being installed on the roof and the spire, to put out any possible start of a fire, something new in French cathedrals,” he added.
The new spire with a cross at the top can already be seen since December 6, surrounded by its metal scaffolding.
On Saturday, a rotating rooster will also be installed on the cross, which will receive the blessing of the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich.
On April 15, 2019, a spectacular fire devastated the cathedral and the spire, designed by architect Eugne Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, collapsed.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing, but the privileged clue is the accidental one.
FUENTE: AFP
