Andre Rieu offers 700 tons of steel to Notre Dame

Andre Rieu offers 700 tons of steel to Notre Dame

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norman lebrecht

April 17, 2019

And still the solidarity comes rolling in.

The Vienna Philharmonic are dedicating the proceeds of a Berlin Bruckner concert.

And the Dutch Strauss impresario just happens to have a spare acre of steel scaffolding.

Andre Rieu writes:

Deeply shocked by the dramatic images from Paris.
We would like to provide our 700 tons of steel, used for the set of Schönbrunn Castle, to help erect the scaffold for the restoration of beautiful Notre-Dame.

Beat that.

Comments

  • Marie Christine says:

    Bravo et merci à tous !

  • Karl says:

    He plays violin AND runs a steel mill? That’s impressive.

  • Barry Guerrero says:

    He may be happy to get it off his hands! Regardless, great gesture.

    • CJ says:

      Yes, it’s kind, but I’m not sure they need that kind of offer. Money seems more useful, it would enable them to choose the right equipment, and at the right moment.

  • MacroV says:

    700 tons of steel for a stage set? Wow.

    I admire all these promised donations, but it seems like they already have enough pledges to cover the restoration cost. Hopefully they’ll direct any surplus to a worthy cause.

  • John Rook says:

    This man is pure gold.

  • Jim says:

    Still waiting to hear of any pledges from the Catholic Church or the Pope.

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      Difficult when the churches are the property of the state.

      • Petros Linardos says:

        I am all for separation between church and state, but don’t understand your point. In France, the two are separated, I understand. At the Vatican, they are essentially the same thing. What are you getting at?

      • Saxon Broken says:

        In reply to Sue Sonata:

        In France the churches are not the property of the state. The separation of the church and state means that the state doesn’t own or pay to maintain the buildings of the church.

        The problem is that the catholic church in France has the choice of supporting the clergy and the catholic mission and the charitable causes associated with them, or to become an “historic buildings society”. Hence the enormous tensions over the appropriate level of support to maintain the buildings. Many in the Catholic church would prefer to conduct their services in more modern buildings (see the Catholic church in Liverpool for an example), and use the money they save to support the wider objectives of the Catholic community.

        The Vatican can not support the church in France since there is a clear separation of the church in France, and the wider catholic community dating back several hundred years.

        Addendum: The problem of maintaining historic buildings is actually a serious problem for the Anglicans in Britain and the Catholics is many other parts of Europe. Often rather small communities of worshippers are faced with trying to pay for the upkeep of buildings without really having the wherewithal to do so.

    • Gustav9 says:

      Indeed!

    • Michael Smith says:

      That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      Interesting comment. Perhaps spriritual support…

    • anon says:

      The Vatican can sell a small panel of the Sistine Chapel ceiling to rebuild Notre Dame.

      Probably for a billion euros to the Saudis, why not, they paid $500 million for the “da Vinci” Salvator Mundi.

    • He sent thoughts and prayers. That’s what we do in America after a tragedy. Not much happens, but we never lose faith.

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    The response to this tragedy is very reassuring. The good thing is we live in times in which maintaining heritage is important. I am sure Notre Dame will be restored with the best available materials and sensitivity to the historical character of the building. If we lived in modernist times, as typified by Le Corbusier’s plans for Paris , this building would still remain where it is, but there would be no attempt to restore it.

  • Greg Bottini says:

    Love you, Andre !
    Keep that steel comin’, baby !

  • Sylvia Laidlaw says:

    Fantastic gesture from The King of the Waltz.

  • anon says:

    Perfect for constructing immigrant shelters in Austria.

    Start with a couple on the grounds of Schönbrunn, Salzburg can use a few, and Vienna needs about 10.

  • Tamino says:

    Very nice of him, but probably even nicer if he also pays for the loading, shipment and unloading of 700 tons of steel from Vienna to Paris, otherwise the present might be hard to realise for the French?

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