If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered in building Notre Dame Cathedral more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument's fire-ravaged roof.
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Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame's new roof has, for the carpenters, been like rewinding time. It's given them a new appreciation of their predecessors' handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century. "It's a little mind-bending sometimes," says Peter Henrikson, one of the carpenters. He says there are times when he's whacking mallet on a chisel that he finds himself thinking about medieval counterparts who were cutting "basically the same joint 900 years ago."
The use of hand tools to rebuild the roof that flames turned into ashes in 2019 is a deliberate, considered choice, especially since power tools would undoubtedly have done the work more quickly. The aim is to pay tribute to the astounding craftsmanship of the cathedral's original builders and to ensure that the centuries-old art of hand-fashioning wood lives on. "We want to restore this cathedral as it was built in the Middle Ages," says Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired French army general who is overseeing the reconstruction.
Facing a tight deadline to reopen the cathedral by December 2024, carpenters and architects are also using computer design and other modern technologies to speed up the reconstruction. Computers were used in the drawing of detailed plans for carpenters, to help ensure that their hand-chiseled beams fit together perfectly.
Unlike in medieval times, the wooden frame will be trucked into Paris and lifted by a mechanical crane into position. Some 1,200 trees have been felled for the work. The rebuilt frame "is the same wooden frame structure of the 13th century," he says. "We have exactly the same material: oak. We have the same tools, with the same axes that were used, exactly the same tools. We have the same know-how. And soon, it will return to its same place. It is a real resurrection."
