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My cynical take (as an American) is that anything but the previous design would have been subject to politicization and protracted decision-making. Donors would
by failbuffer 2y ago
My cynical take (as an American) is that anything but the previous design would have been subject to politicization and protracted decision-making. Donors would have been more fickle, stakeholder groups would have mushroomed, and reconstruction probably wouldn't have even started yet. From a project management standpoint, the decision to keep it the same was as absolute win.
- thrance 2y agoYes for sure, I never had much hope for any kind of change because of the reasons you gave. I think it's quite telling of our time how we cling to some idealized idea of the past.
- binary132 2y agowould you apply the same logic to the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Taj Mahal or any of the other treasures of the world’s heritage?
- PetitPrince 2y agoI find interesting that both the example you gave are places for the dead. In contrast Notre Dame is still an active place of worship, and it would shock me less to see change to it. A similar but more secular example would be the glass dome on the Reichstag building in Berlin.
- canucker2016 2y agoToday's Great Pyramid is much different than what the Great Pyramid looked like when it was first built, according to the TV programs I've seen. There used to be an outer layer of white limestone on the pyramid. see https://www.livescience.com/how-egyptian-pyramids-originally-looked https://www.livescience.com/how-egyptian-pyramids-originally... I'd be more impressed if Egypt restored the Great Pyramid to something close to how it looked when first built.
- glandium 2y agoRelatedly, when I was young, Notre Dame was black from years of pollution from the industrialization period. They cleaned it up and restored its original stone color.
- binary132 2y agobut like, couldn't they put some nice gardens or maybe a shiny glass pyramid on top to improve it for modern tastes? I think it could be really cute
- jdpage 2y agoThe Ancient Egyptians were also like us in that they were into architectural bling and greenery, so I'm not actually sure they'd be complaining that much. They were into materials like gold, electrum, and polished stone, but I'm sure you could sell them on modern glass. That said, the Great Pyramid is a historical site, not an active worship site, and modern archeological sensibilities prioritise conservation. A restoration like that might make it hard to answer future questions about the pyramid.
- binary132 2y agoI’m not worried about offending the ghosts of the ancients. Let’s try another analogy: if the Mona Lisa were damaged, should we “improve” it with “modern bling”?
- throw0101c 2y ago> Yes for sure, I never had much hope for any kind of change because of the reasons you gave. I think it's quite telling of our time how we cling to some idealized idea of the past. Or perhaps leave old things as they were and build new things according to current ideals?