After close to ten years behind scaffolding, the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal is preparing for the grand unveiling of its facade, scheduled for October 25.
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Basilica → prepare → October
While the restoration of the facade is complete, the basilica still has several years of work ahead of it.
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basilica → have → it
About 20 per cent of the necessary work has been completed, said Michel Issa, executive director of the Fabrique de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Montréal.
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Issa → complete → Montréal
He estimates that work on the exterior of the church will take four years, but said this figure may be optimistic.
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figure → estimate → years
The interior restoration of the basilica might take another five to ten years, he said.
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he → take → years
The total cost of the restoration will add up to $100 million, said Issa.
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Issa → add → million
To fund this work, the basilica organizes benefit concerts, generates revenue from its coffee shop, Le Firmament, and holds fundraisers.
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basilica → fund → fundraisers
The latest fundraising campaign is based on a new idea: leaving a virtual mark on the church’s stones.
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campaign → base → stones
Donors have the option to “sponsor a stone” and inscribe a digital message on the building’s facade.
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Donors → have → facade
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“We would have liked to engrave the stones themselves, but unfortunately, that’s a logistical nightmare that’s impossible to pull off,” said Issa, adding that the process would reduce the stones’ durability.
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process → get → durability
The messages will be viewable using a cellphone directly on the church’s facade via augmented reality, or elsewhere by projecting a model of the facade onto a flat surface.
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messages → use → surface
Issa compared this augmented reality process to the one used by the viral app Pokemon Go.
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Issa → compare → app
People can already sponsor a stone, but the messages will not be viewable until early 2027.
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messages → sponsor → 2027
The renovations come with this steep price tag because they involve the entire structure of the basilica.
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they → come → basilica
“All the masonry in the building needs to be reinforced and restored,” said Mathieu Verreault, director of tourism and operations for the basilica.
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Verreault → need → basilica
“After years of freezing and thawing, the stone has cracked in several places.”
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stone → thaw → places
The stones used to build the basilica came from an old quarry in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal.
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stones → use → Montreal
Those placed higher up were salvaged from the bottom of the quarry and were of lower quality, said Verreault.
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Verreault → place → quality
On top of that, some were placed “the wrong way.”
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some → place → that
“It’s sedimentary stone, so there are layers, and they have to be laid horizontally.
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they → ’ → ?
If you lay them vertically, the stones are more permeable to rain,” he said.
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he → lay → rain
Some of the mortar that held the stones in place was also replaced with epoxy, which put greater pressure on the stones.
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which → hold → stones
“People were doing the best they could with the knowledge they had at the time, and, of course, in the long run, all these choices — which have proven questionable over time — have led to the situation we see today,” said Verreault.
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Verreault → do → situation
These exterior weaknesses also affect the interior, with water infiltration and moisture problems leading, for example, to the deterioration of painted decorations.
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weaknesses → affect → decorations
These are not being repainted.
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These → repaint → ?
Instead, the parish is attempting to reattach each flake of paint.
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parish → attempt → paint
“(It’s) very labour-intensive, very time-consuming, but it’s best practice in heritage conservation,” said Verreault.
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Verreault → ’ → conservation
The basilica’s star-studded blue vault is among the sections that will need to be restored.
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that → need → sections
“We’re talking about scaffolding about ten storeys high, which means our concerts and tours will most likely be interrupted,” which will cut off the church’s revenue, said Issa.
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Issa → talk → revenue
If all this work is not done, the deterioration threatens to progress exponentially, causing even more problems in the future.
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deterioration → do → future
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