American builders help restore iconic Paris landmark

PARIS – Five years ago, a fire collapsed the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, destroying its domed wooden roof and tower.

In Hatfield, Massachusetts, carpenter Hank Silver watched in horror as flames rose into the air and quickly spread over the roof of the legendary Gothic building, known as “The Jungle” for its long planks of 800-year-old wood.

Silver soon joined an army of skilled craftsmen from around the world and went to help the building. Paris's soaring medieval landmark is now ready to serve as a symbol of the French capital.

Silver told NBC News on Sunday that the work “changed my life,” and said it gave him a new appreciation for the skills of medieval carpenters. “It's a once-in-a-millennium experience,” he said in an interview. “Having this as a practical location in my workplace every day is never old.”

Silver, who is part of Carpenters Without Borders, a team of volunteers who restore historic structures around the world, is one of a few craftsmen from around the world trained to carry out the work of rebuilding Notre Dame.

Much of what they did required tools recreated on site to match those used by workers centuries before the towering symbol of French national pride was completed in 1345.

The day “la fléche” came out.

On April 15, 2019, thousands of terrified Parisians and tourists, many with tears in their eyes, watched the iconic tower of Notre Dame — known in France as “la fléche,” or the arrow — as it tottered and crashed into inferno. Within minutes, one of the most famous tourist attractions in the French capital had disappeared.

The next day, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the edifice within five years, a pledge that left many experts skeptical at the time.

Emily Geary, a senior lecturer in medieval European history at the University of Kent, was among them. “I was one of those people,” she said. “No way did I think you wouldn't be able to find the trees.”

However, 2,000 oak trees were sourced from forests across Europe for the rebuilding. Some are up to 400 years old and are left to dry for 12 to 19 months before carpenters use them.

Geary said she thought finding the money for the expensive rebuild might have been a problem, “but my God, people wanted Notre Dame back.”

The cost of rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris, the public body responsible for preserving and restoring the cathedral, was estimated at $760 million. It says on its website that 340,000 donors from more than 150 countries have so far donated about $895 million.

The French state and the Catholic Church also contributed, along with wealthy families, Gehry said. She added that it was “medieval” for elite families to come forward and donate.

“What's probably a little different today is that there's no request to put their name on the building,” she said. “But what a wonderful legacy we have to leave behind.”

“We all felt something when we saw the tower fall,” she added. “It made us feel like we were losing a part of our history and our heritage and our connection to our spiritual selves, and no matter where you were in the world as you watched this old building go up in flames, you felt for the people of Paris, you felt for the people of France and you probably felt for the people who built it.

“Remarkable progress” The restoration work has been completed, according to a report issued last year by the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, a non-profit organization that works to raise money for the restoration work.

Before the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, work carried out by a team of carpenters, scaffolding experts, professional climbers, organ mechanics and others continues apace on the cathedral that overlooks Paris from an island on the Seine River.

While the latest construction methods are used, tools have been recreated on site to match those used centuries ago, by the original builders, Silver, the carpenter, said when NBC News first interviewed him at a workshop in Normandy last year. .

“We use a combination of 13th century tools – such as broad axes or dog walkers – to finish all surfaces, and we use chisels, saws and hammers,” he said. “Everything is finished by hand so that the result is an almost exact replica of the Gothic frame that was once there.”

The United States has a “much more recent building tradition, but it's derived from these European methods,” said Silver, who watched the oak roof frames he made lifted into place by a large crane earlier this year.

“For someone like me, being able to work in this building, which is the birth of this technology, has special meaning,” he said.

“Did you ever think you would be able to look at Notre Dame and say, ‘I built it?’”

Keir Simons and Laura Saravia reported from Paris. Henry Austin reported from London.