Yesterday afternoon a devastating blaze, said to have begun accidentally, destroyed the spire and the intricate wooden roof of 850-year-old Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Gothic spire collapsed before the eyes of horrified onlookers. The main structure of the cathedral with its two towers, artifacts, religious statues, and relics like the Holy Crown of Thorns and a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French King Louis, were instead saved.
While people cried or prayed in the streets, messages of support and tributes poured from all over the world and French president Emmanuel Macron announced an international fundraising campaign to rebuild the Parisian landmark.
Quite a few companies responded the appeal, among them Apple, Air France, Air France-KLM, Total and L'Oreal, with its majority shareholder the Bettencourt Meyers family and the Bettencourt Schueller foundation.
French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of international luxury group Kering, owner of Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, pledged 100 million euros towards rebuilding Notre Dame. Pinault is also president of Groupe Artémis which owns the fine arts auction house Christie's. For quite a while there have been rumours circulating about a major acquisition for Kering, but after the fire it seems to have settled on a restoration rather than an acquisition.
Bernard Arnault, chair of LVMH that comprises brands Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon, pledged 200 million euros. LVMH also announced it would give France access to its creative, architectural and financial experts to help with the reconstruction.
Though this is a different situation, for a moment it looked like the two groups had restarted the fight where they left it in 1990s when they battled over Gucci.
After all, while this is a honourable effort, quite a few fashion groups, houses and brands offer donations towards the restoration of historically famous landmarks as they know they will receive quite a few benefits in return.
Restoration projects funded by fashion houses are not new in Italy and they are encouraged, especially when the government can't seem to have the necessary funds to restore historical buildings. Della Valle's Tod's financed works at the Colosseum in Rome; Fendi the restoration of the Trevi Fountain and the Quattro Fontane, the four fountains at the intersection of Via delle Quattro Fontane and Via del Quirinale in Rome; luxury jeweler Bulgari helped cleaning the Spanish Steps, while Diesel jeans founder Renzo Rosso invested in restoring the Rialto bridge in Venice in return for using it as advertising space.
There are different reasons behind the donations: companies know that donations towards restoration projects guarantee media revenue, advertising spaces (some companies are allowed to cover a building that is being restored with their adverts) and the promise of behind historically associated with that specific building or monument. Besides, a few companies know that a restoration secures a great location for a catwalk shows (think about Fendi and the Trevi Fountain).
Last but not least, the donations offer the chance to get great tax benefits that change according to the country. In France the "Aillagon Law" (2003), after former Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon, allows companies to make donations for culture and receive tax breaks (up to 60 percent of their sponsorship with a cap at 0.5% of a company's annual turnover). The bizarre part in the Notre-Dame tragedy is the fact that Aillagon currently works as director general of the Pinault Foundation and incidentally last night he asked to the French government via Twitter to decree the cathedral a "national treasure" so that donations for its reconstruction would benefit from a tax deduction of 90%, provided by the 2003 law.
Macron also announced that the best talents from the world will be brought in for the restoration of the cathedral, so the battle for the architect who will work on this ambitious project will start soon.
Time will tell if we get a Gucci spire rather than a Gothic spire, or if this is going to be a branded cathedral with a tower dedicated to Louis Vuitton and another to Gucci (hopefully not…), in the meantime, the most unexpected news about the restoration is that "Assassin's Creed: Unity" (Ubisoft) may be used as a model to rebuild the cathedral.
The teams involved in the restoration will indeed have to study the cathedral looking at photos and videos and the "Unity" chapter of the videogame is set in Paris in 1789 and features a detailed recreation of Notre Dame down to the textures of the bricks.
Game artist Caroline Miousse spent indeed two years on this detailed version of the cathedral, also working with a historian to research and build every section of the building.
The restoration may not give us back the roof built with beams from primal forests, but the possibility of using the background research employed for a videogame makes you realise that innovative technologies will play a major role in this project.
Half-destroyed in the early 19th century, Notre Dame was rebuilt once, so it can definitely be resurrected again (hopefully without brand logos and without the glitches of "Assassin's Creed: Unity"...).
Update (18/04/2018): As people started questioning the benefits from tax reductions that some companies may be getting from Notre-Dame donations, it was accounced that LVMH and the Arnault family will not benefit from tax breaks. At a LVMH's Annual General Meeting Arnault stated that the company was not eligible for tax break benefits since it had hit the limit on tax breaks after those received for building the Louis Vuitton Foundation.
Jean-Jacques Aillagon retracted his suggestion asking the government to offer a 90 percent tax deduction on corporate contributions rather than the normal 60 percent and the Pinault family announced that they would seek no tax deduction for their donation.
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