https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-france-can-rebuild-notre-dame/

The world watched helplessly this week as Paris’s treasured Notre Dame cathedral went up in flames. Although fire brigades managed to save parts of the building, such as the bell towers, the blaze destroyed the roof and spire—along with countless artifacts.

However, this is not the first time Notre Dame has suffered major damage, and the reconstruction project to come (donors have already pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort) is neither the first nor likely the last for the cathedral. “This building is an archaeological palimpsest,” says Dimitris Theodossopoulos, a civil engineer at the University of Edinburgh. “Our generation simply adds something to this, and the next generation will add something else.”