Flutterby™! : Notre Dame

In light of Paris' Notre Dame cathedral burning down today, a thread on the renovation and maintenance of the structure: RT Maggie Koerth-Baker @maggiekb1

Husband (architect and engineer) pointed out that whoever the contractor on this Notre Dame renovation was, they're legally and financially fucked now. That got me curious about the firm ... which led to some old articles and, oh man, the aftermath of this is gonna be messy ...

Articles linked:

• Notre Dame Cathedral Is Crumbling. Who Will Help Save It?
• NYT from 1992: Paris Journal; To Notre Dame's Rescue, Sickly Gargoyles and All
• Rescuing Notre-Dame: France’s Iconic Cathedral Raises Funds for Restoration via French Cultural Center
• The Notre-Dame Cathedral is falling apart — and the U.S. is fixing it

Of course when I first read of the fire, I saw a mention that it was being done in the context of a $6.8M renovation, and I wondered what the conversion rate was between millions of dollars and hushed up molesting priests. Let's put this in perspective: Art doesn't become famous because of something intrinsic (see Electroniccopyavailableat:https://ssrn.com/abstract=32583181Fame as an Illusion of Creativity: Evidence from the Pioneers of Abstract Art, doi:10.2139/ssrn.3258318 ), this is a monument to an institution of institutionalized abuse, and maybe we should start evaluating our cultural treasures by what they really stand for, rather than how they're romanticized in a Victor Hugo novel...