PARIS (AP) — The adorned French basic answerable for the bold, big-budget restoration of fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Jean-Louis Georgelin, has died. He was 74.
President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute Saturday to one among France’s “greatest soldiers, greatest servants,” who “stone by stone, was restoring the wounded beauty” of Notre Dame. Before being pulled from retirement to supervise the cathedral reconstruction, Georgelin beforehand served as chief of France’s navy basic workers, overseeing operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and past.
Citing the regional prosecutor, native information experiences mentioned Georgelin died whereas mountain climbing within the Pyrenees, doubtless in an accident. The mountain rescue service within the Ariege area mentioned a physique was discovered Friday close to the village of Bordes-Uchentein.
Macron mentioned in an announcement that Georgelin died within the mountains, reflecting “a life always turned toward the summits.” The assertion didn’t present particulars.
Born Aug. 30, 1948, Georgelin attended the distinguished Saint-Cyr navy highschool earlier than serving in infantry and parachute regiments and in navy intelligence. He studied on the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and went on to turn out to be private navy chief to late President Jacques Chirac, after which chief of workers of the French navy from 2006-2010.
Soon after the 2019 hearth that toppled the spire of Notre Dame and consumed its timber-and-lead roof, Macron named Georgelin to steer the restoration work. Artisans round France are utilizing medieval supplies and strategies to rebuild the Gothic landmark.
“It is a way to be faithful to the (handiwork) of all the people who built all the extraordinary monuments in France,” Georgelin mentioned earlier this yr in an interview with The Associated Press.
The spire is being hoisted atop the cathedral piece by piece this yr, a improvement that Georgelin referred to as “the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame.”
Macron lamented that “Gen. Georgelin will never see the reopening of Notre Dame with his own eyes,” however added that when it reopens on Dec. 8, 2024, “he will be present with us.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”