Daily Times

France will invite architects from around the world to submit designs for rebuilding the spire of Notre-Dame cathedral that was destroyed in a devastating blaze, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Wednesday. The goal is “to give Notre-Dame a new spire that is adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era,” Philippe told reporters a day after President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the cathedral “even more beautifully” within five years. Thousands of Parisians and tourists watched in horror Monday as flames engulfed a monument that has symbolised Paris for nearly a millennium, toppling the spire and gutting a large part of the roof. No sooner had firefighters extinguished the flames than pledges of donations towards rebuilding it began to pour in. Within 24 hours, the pledges had reached more than 800 million euros ($900 million), with French business magnates and corporations jostling to outshine each other with displays of generosity.