$50-million Notre-Dame Basilica makeover is 'like a giant puzzle'

Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica, one of North America’s most ornate and celebrated places of worship, is undergoing a $50-million makeover.

As the masterpiece of neo-Gothic architecture marks 200 years since its first stones were laid, restoration experts are repairing two centuries of wear, water infiltration and Montreal winters. Outer stonework is being repaired, thinning stained-glass windows reinforced and fading paint meticulously updated.

Architects discovered in 2017 much of the exterior stonework in the upper third of the basilica’s towers was in an advanced state of deterioration. Being so high up — the basilica is roughly 20 storeys tall — the upper reaches were harder and more expensive to maintain. Exposed to rain, westerly winds and the deteriorating effects of freezes and thaws after water infiltration, many of the carved solid stones making up the building’s facade were beginning  to crumble, posing a risk to the structure and pedestrians below.

“Much of the stone that is quarried in Quebec only has a life of about a century. Here we have stones twice as old as that. We were really pushing the limits,” said Pascal Letourneau, one of the architects with the DFS firm overseeing the project.

Repair work has involved building a scaffolding the height of the basilica, with protective shelters to shield those below.

Each of the facade stones, weighing 150 to 300 pounds apiece, is removed with a crane, numbered to identify it and inspected to see if it needs to be repaired or replaced. More than 2,000 stones had to be replaced in the basilica’s west tower, which took three years and was completed this summer.

Architects discovered in 2017 much of the exterior stonework in the upper third of the basilica’s towers was in an advanced state of deterioration. Being so high up — the basilica is roughly 20 storeys tall — the upper reaches were harder and more expensive to maintain. Exposed to rain, westerly winds and the deteriorating effects of freezes and thaws after water infiltration, many of the carved solid stones making up the building’s facade were beginning  to crumble, posing a risk to the structure and pedestrians below.

“Much of the stone that is quarried in Quebec only has a life of about a century. Here we have stones twice as old as that. We were really pushing the limits,” said Pascal Letourneau, one of the architects with the DFS firm overseeing the project.

Repair work has involved building a scaffolding the height of the basilica, with protective shelters to shield those below.

Each of the facade stones, weighing 150 to 300 pounds apiece, is removed with a crane, numbered to identify it and inspected to see if it needs to be repaired or replaced. More than 2,000 stones had to be replaced in the basilica’s west tower, which took three years and was completed this summer.

The original Notre-Dame Church was opened in 1683 on Notre-Dame St., and was built by Sulpician priests.

By 1819 it was considered too small, able to accommodate only 3,000 of its 15,000 worshippers. A construction committee chose James O’Donnell, a Protestant architect from New York, to design the most beautiful church in North America.

O’Donnell was inspired by the Gothic revival style popular in Europe and the United States. The architecture was influenced by the two towers of the Notre-Dame de Paris church, and the Church of St-Sulpice.

The main building was built between 1824 and 1829, with no construction during the winter months. It took over 10 years more to build the bell towers alongside. With a capacity of up to 10,000, it was the largest place of worship north of Mexico until St. Patrick’s Cathedral was built in 1879 in New York.

O’Donnell passed away in 1830, after converting to Catholicism. His crypt is under the basilica.

The West Tower was finished in 1841 and named La Persévérance. Since 1848 it has been home to the Jean-Baptiste bell, which weighs 10,900 kilograms and comes from England. The other bells of the church ring every hour, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jean-Baptiste rings only for solemn events.

Most of the interior decorations of the church were completed between 1872 and 1888.

In December 1978, a fire destroyed the ornate Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur Chapel located within the church. It was rebuilt by 1982.

Pope John Paul II raised Notre-Dame Church to the rank of minor basilica on April 21, 1982. He visited in 1984, performing a mass for children.

Notre-Dame was designated as a national historic site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1989.

Former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s funeral was held there, as was the funeral for Maurice (Rocket) Richard.