Say goodbye to the possibility of a Notre Dame farm-to-table concept restaurant, or whatever else architects were dreaming up.
France's Senate passed a bill Monday dictating the 12th century cathedral be rebuilt to "its last known visual state," Curbed reports. That means its toppled spire, added in the 19th century, will have to be rebuilt on top of a restored wooden roof if the bill becomes law.
Within hours of Notre Dame's roof and spire burning in a massive fire in April, French President Emmanuel Macron had already pledged to rebuild the cathedral within five years and make it "even more beautiful" than before. The country's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe soon announced a design competition to rebuild the spire, and mentioned he wouldn't mind if the replacement had a modern touch. Designers immediately took that suggestion to the extreme, with one proposing an indoor "urban garden" topped with a futuristic glass roof and spire.
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France's Senate, it seems, didn't like that idea. It okayed a bill from France's lower legislative body, the National Assembly, on Monday, saying the cathedral would be rebuilt by the time Paris hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics. But the Senate added a requirement demanding the restoration mimic Notre Dame's "last-known visual state." The two chambers will now have to come to an agreement on whether Notre Dame can consider proposals involving a sleek open floor plan, or whether it'll be stuck with the same centuries-old design Quasimodo was forced to love.
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