ugc_banner

Notre Dame's grand organ's dismantled for restoration in Paris

WION Web Team
Paris, FranceUpdated: Aug 04, 2020, 06:32 AM IST
main img
Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

The organ was covered in soot and damaged by humidity, and not directly by the fires that damaged the roof of the Paris Cathedral

After a huge fire at the very famous and historic Notre-Dame last year, the workers have started dismantling the grand organ.

The organ, which is the biggest instrument in France, will now be restored by the experts for the fifth anniversary of the fire — that took place on April 15, 2019.

The organ was covered in soot and damaged by humidity, and not directly by the fires that damaged the roof of the Paris Cathedral.

“It is an absolute miracle that it has survived. An organ like this is enormous and looks indestructible, but it is actually very fragile,” Olivier Latry, one of Notre-Dame’s official organ players, told a local media house.

Workers will dismantle its five keyboards, pedalboard and the 109 stop knobs that control airflow to its 8,000 pipes, some as high as 10 metres.

After the fires destroyed parts of the cathedral, the French President  Emmanuel Macron promised to restore the entire structure within five years and the Church officials are hoping to be able to conduct mass by the next Olympic Games in 2021, which will be held in Paris.

After a year of fire at the Notre Dame, another French Cathedral in Nantes caught fire this year — but a smaller fire and less damage.