The Minister of Culture Franck Riester ensures, Thursday 18th April, 2019, that work is underway on three points of fragility at Notre-Dame.
There remain “three major points of fragility” in the Notre-Dame cathedral on which work is ongoing, said Thursday 18th April, 2019 the Minister of Culture Franck Riester on BFMTV-RMC .
#NotreDame
“Grace au travail exceptionnel des pompiers, le pire a été évité (…) Tout risque d’effondrement n’est pas écarte sur trois points de fragilité”
➡️ @franckriester ministre de la Culture #BourdinDirect
📻 https://t.co/fwhxlzpwks pic.twitter.com/hO7p1kbb4w— RMC (@RMCinfo) April 18, 2019
On the gable of the north transept (the transverse nave), “important work was done tonight to make the hooping of the upper part, a kind of shoring with a wooden device. It was threatening to collapse, “said the minister.
Second point sensitive in this inventory: the pinion (upper part) west, between the two belfries. “It is very fragile, it leans especially because the statue of the angel, above, is so burned that it is split all the way up,” explained Franck Riester.
“An operation taking place today aims, via a scaffolding that will be installed, to attach a cable to this angel and remove it,” said the minister.
Risk of collapse of chimeras
Third problematic point: the angle of the southern belfry, “which has been so heated, with stones become completely friable, that there is a risk that chimeras collapse”. “If they collapse they could endanger the great organs that have been preserved for the time being,” said the minister. “The operation to remove the chimeras is launched. ”
There is also in Notre-Dame “three very problematic places” where the vault collapsed: “the nave, because of the collapse of the spire, at the crossing of the transept, and in the north transept”.
“In these three places the vault has collapsed and there is a real risk that it collapses elsewhere, which is why scaffolding will be installed today, to put trays to remove the rubble that is on the ground. vault, and very quickly the covering. If it started to rain there would be an accumulation of water, it would weigh on the arch, “warned the Minister of Culture.
