A leading art historian has accused the French government of ignoring warnings that there was a high risk of fire at Notre Dame three years before the cathedral went up in flames in 2019.
Didier Rykner said a report by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) had alerted the government to the danger in 2016. The government, however, took no action and left the cathedral understaffed and underequipped to fight the fire, according to Rykner.
“Audrey Azoulay [then culture minister under the Socialist-led government of François Hollande] dismissed the CNRS study ... No additional measures were taken at that time,” Rykner said. “When the fire broke out, no one knew where it had started, because there were not enough staff to keep watch.”
He pointed out that the government was responsible for the maintenance and safety of the 850-year-old state-owned cathedral, which was visited by about 13 million people a year before the fire.
“No one wants to take responsibility for the failings,” he told the Journal du Dimanche.
Advertisement
Parts of Notre Dame were being restored when the fire broke out. “Studies show that fires are very often caused by restoration work,” said Rykner, who has just published a book about the calamity, Notre Dame, an Affair of State.
“The contractors who were working [on the cathedral] when the fire happened were brought back to restore it, so no one is interested in finding out who was to blame.”
Four years after the fire an inquiry led by three judges is still investigating its origin. It is also examining whether the authorities were negligent.
The inquiry has already concluded that the alarm system was inadequate and contributed to a delay in calling the fire brigade. It has also identified electrical faults in one of the cathedral’s lifts. They are not believed to have caused the fire but may have helped it to spread.
Rémy Heitz, a former Paris prosecutor who led a preliminary investigation soon after the fire, concluded that it was accidental, probably caused by a discarded cigarette or an electrical fault.
Advertisement
A source close to the present inquiry said: “Analyses are still being carried out and new analyses and experts’ reports have been requested, but so far there is no evidence of a criminal cause.”
• Visual special: Inside Notre Dame’s painstaking rebuild
Inadequate firefighting equipment allowed the blaze to destroy the cathedral’s roof and cause its spire to topple. Fire engines proved unable to contain the flames and aircraft were not used to dump water on the burning roof because the impact could have caused the entire structure to collapse.
A new €2 million firefighting system is being installed as part of the reconstruction of Notre Dame, which is due to reopen to the public in December next year. President Macron had been pushing for the cathedral to be ready for the opening of the Olympic Games next summer.
A separate inquiry is looking into accusations of official negligence over a rise in lead pollution in the area surrounding the cathedral after the fire. The flames sent hundreds of tonnes of toxic lead dust into the air.
