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By Jeffrey Schaeffer

The Associated Press

SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-PLAINE, France 鈥� If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered when constructing 聽more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument鈥檚聽fire-ravaged roof.

Certainly, the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame鈥檚 new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It鈥檚 given them a new appreciation of their predecessors鈥� handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope in the 13th century.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little mind-bending sometimes,鈥� carpenter Peter Henrikson said, noting there are times when he鈥檚 whacking mallet on chisel that he finds himself thinking about medieval counterparts who were cutting 鈥渂asically the same joint 900 years ago.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 fascinating,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e probably are in some ways thinking the same things.鈥�

The use of hand tools to rebuild the roof that flames turned into ashes in 2019 is a deliberate, considered choice, especially since power tools would undoubtedly have done the work more quickly. The aim is to pay tribute to the astounding craftsmanship of the cathedral鈥檚 original builders and to ensure that the centuries-old art of hand-fashioning wood lives on.

鈥淲e want to restore this cathedral as it was built in the Middle Ages,鈥� said Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired French army general who is overseeing the reconstruction. 鈥淚t is a way to be faithful to the (handiwork) of all the people who built all the extraordinary monuments in France.鈥�

贵补肠颈苍驳听补 tight deadline聽to reopen the cathedral by December 2024, carpenters and architects are also using computer design and other modern technologies to accelerate the reconstruction. Computers were used in the drawing of detailed plans for carpenters, to help ensure that their hand-chiseled beams will fit together perfectly.

鈥淭raditional carpenters had a lot of that in their head,鈥� Henrikson notes. It鈥檚 鈥減retty amazing to think about how they did this with what they had, the tools and technology that they had at the time.鈥�

Henrikson, a 61-year-old American, is from Grand Marais, Minnesota. The bulk of the other artisans working on the timber frame are French.

The roof reconstruction hit an important milestone in May, when large parts of the new timber frame were assembled and erected at a workshop in the Loire Valley, in western France.

The dry run assured architects that the frame is fit for purpose. The next time it is assembled will be atop the cathedral. Unlike in medieval times, the roof pieces will be trucked into Paris and lifted by mechanical crane into position. Some 1,200 trees were felled for the work.

鈥淭he objective we had was to restore to its original condition the wooden frame structure that disappeared during the fire of April 15, 2019,鈥� said architect Remi Fromont, who created detailed drawings of the original frame in 2012.

The rebuilt frame 鈥渋s the same wooden frame structure of the 13th century,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have exactly the same material: oak. We have the same tools, with the same axes that were used, exactly the same tools. We have the same know-how. And soon, it will return to its same place.

鈥淚t is a real resurrection.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.