France to launch international competition to re-design Notre-Dame spire

Reuters
Updated

PARIS, April 17 (Reuters) - France will open an international competition for a re-design of the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris after the cathedral's iconic roofline collapsed in Monday's blaze, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday.

"The international competition will allow us to ask the question of whether we should even recreate the spire," Philippe said, noting that the old 295-foot tall spire was only added to the cathedral in the 19th century.

(Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Richard Lough/Sudip Kar-Gupta)