Indeed. Gothic construction is inherently unsafe by today's standards. No way would anybody ever get a Building & Safety permit to do that again. These buildings are just stacks of carefully shaped stone. There's no mortar, no steel, I don't even know if they used keys the way the ancient Greeks and the Stonehenge folks did. Collapses during construction were a real problem, particularly when taking out the temporary wooden supports under the arches and buttresses. It's amazing that these houses of cards have lasted as long as they have.

Great news indeed!

That organ is so powerful, I was shocked when I heard it. I hope to have this experience again some day.

About removing the soot out of all the organ pipes, I would first try a few full 5-octave fermata cluster chords at maximum wind power with all the stops pulled. The organist of course would need to put on a mask first.

I hope they hide a nice modern sprinkler system in the rebuild.

I was involved in arranging repairs after 2 fires in a school where I was Business Manager. There wasn't only dusty soot, but also a slimy, greasy smoky coating on every surface in the building. Difficult to remove - though the professionals had stuff which did.

I play a digital Allen in my own Church (also Pipe Organ in another Church 2 Sunday mornings a month). There is an old, very small, not very capable Pipe Organ there which isn't working any more due to water damage, hence the Allen. When I first got there on Sundays, I'd fire the Pipe Organ up and played with all stops (all 7!!) to settle the temperature. I was always sniffly after that, I reckon because of dust being blown out.

Main thing is, don't employ anyone from Chesterfield to rebuild it.

NPR Update on the Organ

Good article - but somewhat misleading headline.

I haven't heard about Vierne's console and how it fared during the fire (the great organist and composer suffered a stroke and died during a recital--the old console was replaced by modernizations, but kept for display).

St.-Sulpice, where the "other" (some say greater) organ in Paris is located, had a minor fire just recently--that organ is said to be OK.

Perilous time for pipe organs in Paris!

I have been asked, by PM, to explain my reference to Chesterfield.

Chesterfield is a small town in Derbyshire, England. It is famous for the spire on the church there:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chesterfields-crooked-spire

Apparently some confusion has arisen as there is a "stencil" town called Chesterfield in one of our colonies. I was referring to the original, not the ersatz.

I bet 0.01% of Earth population know about the spire on the church there and the rest 99.99% know Chesterfield as a brand of cigarettes.

I am in the 0.01% I am afraid.

For me Chesterfield is a type of couch...

Phillippe Lefebvre said, "When you play this organ, the stones sing."

They will sing again! From the NY Times:
The Article

Photos:


The Console



Coating from the fire

Yep - that was my only thought.

I'm surprised that Chesterfield isn't better known worldwide. It has a very British mix of old-fashioned charm and a touch of eccentricity. Well I suppose in this case it's more than a touch...