Advertisement

‘This trunk is exceptional’ Forestry officials seek trees to rebuild Notre Dame

These century-old oak trees will soon be used

to rebuild the wooden-framed spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

which was destroyed by a fire in 2019

President Emmanuel Macron announced last summer

that the spire would be reconstructed as originally designed

launching the hunt for 1,000 oaks

(SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FORESTRY AUTHORITY COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, AYMERIC ALBERT, SAYING: "This trunk is exceptional, it meets all the requirements required by the architects of the future roof structure. It has the length needed to cut out the pieces for the structure, it's perfectly straight, the axis of the wood is perfect, the heart of the wood is in the center, which will allow us to do the sawing and then the piece for the future structure."

The cathedral's original roof contained so many oak beams

it was called ‘the forest’