JUDY WOODRUFF: After last month's devastating
fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, leading stonemasons offered a warning: Think carefully
about reconstruction, or risk substandard work. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant visits
a cathedral in the English city of York to see how the artisans there rebuilt after a
fire in 1984. This report is part of our arts and culture
series, Canvas. MALCOLM BRABANT: Like Notre Dame, York Minster
has dominated the landscape for centuries. It has similar architectural characteristics,
and it offers the hope of recovery from the inferno. SARAH BROWN, Director, York Glaziers Trust:
In July 1984, it was a very hot summer. And in the early hours of the morning, there
was an electrical storm, which it's believed struck the minster and set up a fire smoldering
in the roof. And because we have both a timber roof and
a timber vault here in York, the fire spread into the vault, and of course, ran the risk
of affecting the whole building. MALCOLM BRABANT: Sarah Brown heads the trust
which cares for stained glass. She's looking up at the now restored vault
or inner roof of the wing that was gutted. York's Glaziers have unique experience of
restoring fire-damaged glass, and their services have been offered to Notre Dame. SARAH BROWN: Glass is susceptible to extreme
heat. And it's susceptible to rapid cooling. In a fire situation, it's cooling rapidly,
particularly if gallons and gallons of water are being poured over the structure, which
obviously is the case both here and in Paris. And this causes a kind of thermal shock. So, although the windows appear for the most
part to be surviving in the windows, close up, you will probably see lots of micro-cracks
in the glass, which make it now vulnerable to mechanical damage, to stresses and strains,
high winds, et cetera. MALCOLM BRABANT: York has a team of stonemasons
working constantly to replace crumbling elements of the minster. They're led by John David. He was at the fire in 1984 and helped to rescue
treasures before the blazing roof was brought down deliberately to stop the flames from
spreading to the main body of the minster. JOHN DAVID, Master Stonemason, York Minster:
What we have now and what we learned from the fire was, that we compartmentalized all
the roofs in the minster. So now -- in their fireproofing -- so, if
a fire breaks out anywhere, it can reasonably be contained if it's -- if the fire people
get here quick enough. MALCOLM BRABANT: Although it looks like stone,
the vault of the restored wing is wooden and therefore combustible. But there is no sprinkler system in place,
because John David says the volume of water involved would damage the building's fabric. He believes the French should follow York
Minster's lead. JOHN DAVID: State-of-the-art alarms and smoke
detectors, flame detectors, these are the sort of things that they need, plus breaking
the roof off into separate areas and how what you have is actually a map in a control room
somewhere in the cathedral which shows, if an alarm goes off in a certain area, you know
exactly where they come. And also, the fire service, as in York, the
fire service regularly come to do a practice. MALCOLM BRABANT: York is monitoring the debate
in France about the nature of Notre Dame's restoration. Should it be true to its medieval origins
or something modern? Canon Michael Smith is a traditionalist. THE REV. CANON MICHAEL SMITH, York Minster: I think
we have to acknowledge that places like here and places like Notre Dame are actually repositories
of prayer. They hold the memory, they hold the joys and
sorrows, the tears and the laughter, the questions, the doubts, the affirmations of faith of generations
of people. MALCOLM BRABANT: Although York's prevailing
attitude towards restoration is conservative, vignettes of modernity exist. In the roof timbers, there's an image of the
moon landing. Harriet Pace is creating a replacement grotesque,
which is like a gargoyle, except it doesn't have a water spout. And the inspiration for the face is her late
father, a sculptor. HARRIET PACE, Stonemason: The original had
a high collar and a hood and a cloak. So, I copied those as reference points and
decided to do a doctor. But the face I decided to do of my dad, just
purely because I wanted to carry on his skills and put them in the stonework and then just
have him as a memory on the side of the cathedral. MALCOLM BRABANT: But that's about as modern
as it gets in York. John David fears the French will abandon traditional
materials and craft skills such as these in order to fulfill President Macron's pledge
to restore Notre Dame in five years. JOHN DAVID: It's not going to be achievable
without any sort of very poor workmanship or poor quality. And I hope he will think again. These cathedrals are above politics. They're for the people. There's no way that it can be done in five
years with care and proper consideration for the building. MALCOLM BRABANT: So far, the amount that has
been pledged to restore Notre Dame is close to a billion dollars. Most of this money is potentially going to
come from French billionaires or corporations. Now, these apparent acts of philanthropy have
been condemned around the world by people who believe that the potential donors are
just trying to build their own legacy or to gain tax advantages. They have been criticized for rescuing a building,
but not looking after people in need. Now, this county here, Yorkshire, is renowned
in Britain for being a place for plain speaking and common sense. So, what's the Yorkshire view of the ethics
of this issue? THE REV. CANON ADRIAN BOTWRIGHT, Yorkshire: As always,
these things are not either/or, but both/and. I'm always cautious about judging people's
motives. It may well be that we can have doubts about
them, but people are often more generous than we realize. And I wouldn't want to be too judgmental about
that. MALCOLM BRABANT: Canon Adrian Botwright has
recently retired after three decades as pastor of a large Yorkshire parish. THE REV. CANON ADRIAN BOTWRIGHT: Yes, a lot of money
will be needed to rebuild Notre Dame. But perhaps we shouldn't always judge things
by the amount of money they take. The value is beyond just the amount of money
that is spent upon them. And I think I would argue that, for a nation
that's lost, as this country certainly has and arguably many countries in Europe have,
lost a sense of purpose, lost a sense of meaning and significance, the role that a building
like that plays is colossal. MALCOLM BRABANT: The minster's Canon Michael
Smith believes that perhaps 10 percent of donations towards Notre Dame should go to
good human causes. THE REV. CANON MICHAEL SMITH: I think we impoverish
the whole of society if we don't make beautiful things. I think art is important. Beautiful places, beautiful spaces, are really,
really important. That's not to say that the people who sleep
in our doorways aren't important. They're just as important, probably more -- well,
they are more important. But we have to care for them, but we also
have to have beautiful places where people can come and think and be challenged and connect
with the big questions of life. And that's what buildings like this do to
people. MALCOLM BRABANT: In the minster's experience,
it'll take at least a year to evaluate Notre Dame's restoration needs. The French should know that every move will
be closely scrutinized here in Northern England. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant
in York. JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, we're debuting Canvas
Online, our brand-new Web site for arts and culture stories from the "NewsHour" and from
your local PBS stations around the country. Explore now at ArtsCanvas.org. And join our Facebook community, dedicated
to conversations around art in all its forms. That's at Facebook.com/groups/NewsHourArts.
