All:
Consider the Frauenkirche in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dresden</st1:place></st1:city>.
Designed around 1720 and completed
around the time of George Washington's
birth, it was nearly completely destroyed
in the infamous February, 13, 1945 fire raid
that leveled, " the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florence</st1:place></st1:city> of the North".
At least most of the masonry parts of
Notre Dame, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city> still stand, while the
Frauenkirche only had 15% of the walls
standing, while the stone dome, and the
rows of balconies that permitted 3700
to hear sermons on a 125' x 125' floor
plate were all gone.
After 45 years during which the
East German authorities refused to
rebuild it, trees grew in the rubble
pile that had been the Frauenkirche
(Notre Dame in German), a citizens'
group sprang up after renunification
and completely rebuilt it.
Thus, Notre Dame, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city> will again
have all its vaults, its roof and its
1800's - style fleche.
Yes,the rafters will not be 800
or 175 years old, and some of
the stones will likely be new,
but the impact upon countless
people yet unborn will be like the
feeling we have had upon visiting
or worshipping there.
John F. Corkill, Jr., AIA