Ag AgenciesPARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron committed to rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral within five years after the Paris landmark was partially gutted in a devastating fire."We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it," Macron said in a television address to the nation.Describing Notre Dame as "the epicenter of our life," Macron had earlier announced that a fundraising campaign would begin Tuesday and called on the world's "greatest talents" to help rebuild the cathedral.Experts are currently estimating the repair costs could be in excess of €100b and take around 20 years to restore the world-famous gothic cathedral.Macron has announced a national subscription would be launched to help fund the rebuild.Elsewhere, France's Fondation du Patrimoine, a private organisation which works to protect French heritage, said it would be starting an international appeal.It said in a Twitter message: "For our Lady to be reborn from her ashes we are launching an international appeal. All donations received will be paid in full to the restoration site."The US-based French Heritage Society also said it would establish a restoration fund.Donations flooding in:By Tuesday evening, just over 24 hours after the fire erupted, donations had exceeded £605m (€700m).On Tuesday, a French billionaire, Bernard Arnault of Christian Dior SE and the sprawling luxury goods empire LVMH, promised €200 million ($226 million) to the reconstruction efforts. That was followed by a €100-million pledge from French oil company Total.Another French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, immediately pledged €100 million ($113 million) towards "the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame."The Bettencourt-Meyer family, the largest shareholder in the L'Oreal cosmetics empire, offered £172m, while oil and gas producer Total pledged £87m.The City of Paris said it would unlock £43m.The website Dartagnans, which is dedicated to preserving France's cultural and artistic heritage, has so far received around £24,500 in donations.Another appeal, set up by the website Leetchi has received more than £9,500 in less than seven hours.More than 50 campaigns linked to the fire have been launched globally on Go Fund Me, according to a spokesman.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas offered Berlin’s support, saying the fire “struck at the heart of all of Europe.”“We offer France the assistance it desires,” said Maas. “Specialists in Germany and France are already working together. All of Europe is with France today.”Peter Füssenich, the architect who led restoration work at Cologne’s Dom Cathedral, said that “just by seeing the images on TV, you knowthat it will not just take years to deal with the damage, but that it’s going to take decades.”Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said the main structure of Notre Dame had been saved and preserved, as well as the two rectangular towers at its facade. The fire service said the blaze had been fully extinguished on Tuesday morning.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed his deep sadness over the fire that devastated Paris’s historical Notre-Dame Cathedral.In his tweet on Tuesday, he said that Pakistan shared grief with French people as for centuries it has been a revered place of worship for Catholics around the world. He hoped that resilient people of France will be able to restore its glory.
04-17-2019, 12:31 PM
France firm to rebuild Notre-Dame
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