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Aug 04, 2023

Photos: Rebuilding Notre Dame using medieval techniques

A crane lifts a part of the new roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral,

A crane lifts a part of the new roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Peter Henrikson, 61, a timber framer from Minnesota, measures a beam, part of the new roof of the Notre Dame cathedral de Paris, Thursday, May, 25, 2023., near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Carpenters work on wooden pieces, part of the new roof for the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Carpenters work on pieces, part of the new roof for the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Technical construction plans of the new roof of Notre Dame de Paris cathedral are pictured Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

French framer Brieuc de Keranflec'h works on a beam, part of the new roof of Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired French Army general who is overseeing the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral reconstruction, holds a tool used to rebuild the roof of the Paris monument, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. 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's original builders and to ensure that the centuries-old art of hand-fashioning wood lives on. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

A carpenter uses an axe to cut a wooden beam for the new roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Part of the new wooden roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023 is pictured near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Chief architect Remi Froment holds the drawings of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral he made in 2012 which are being used in part as the basis for the rebuilding the roof, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

A carpenter works on the new roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Jean-Baptiste Bonhoure, head of Atelier Perrault, a carpenter and wooden work company, poses next to wooden beams Thursday, May, 25, 2023, near Angers, western France. Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors. For them, working with hand-axes to fashion oak beams has been like stepping back in time. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)

Carpenters building a new timber frame for the fire-ravaged roof of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral are using the same tools and techniques as their medieval predecessors.