Notre-Dame’s rebuild highlights the shame of Christchurch’s still quake-stricken cathedral - Editorial

A rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral has reopened just five years after a massive blaze ripped through it, while Christchurch's cathedral remains broken. Photo / Getty Images

Editorial

• Notre-Dame Cathedral’s restoration was completed in five years for $1.3 billion after the 2019 fire.
• Christ Church Cathedral remains unrepaired 14 years after the 2011 earthquake, with costs now at $154 million.
• Construction paused due to funding issues, leaving the site fenced and inactive in central Christchurch.

The Christmas miracle of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is a sad reminder of the shameful ruin that still lies at the heart of post-earthquake Christchurch.

After the 2019 blaze that ravaged the historic 12-century French landmark — one of the most famous buildings in the world — its rebirth from the ashes has been hailed as a remarkable feat.

“You’ve achieved what was said to be impossible,” French President Emmanuel Macron told workers at the Paris landmark’s reopening last month.

Footage from inside the renovated 12th- and 13th-century Gothic building showed it restored to its past magnificence.

The staggering reconstruction cost the French Republic €700 million ($1.3 billion), financed by donations, and was achieved within a five-year deadline despite many predictions it would take decades.

Meanwhile, Christchurch’s version of Notre-Dame, the Christ Church Cathedral in the middle of the Garden City, remains an indefinitely mothballed mess.

Christ Church Cathedral after the February 2011 earthquake. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The violent shaking of the February 22, 2011 earthquake, which claimed 185 lives, snapped the cathedral’s spire and caused widespread damage, which has seen it remain shut ever since.

The Anglican landmark, designed by English Gothic designer George Gilbert Scott, was consecrated on November 1, 1881.

It withstood violent earthquakes in 1881, 1888, 1922, 1901 and on September 4, 2010.

But after the 2011 quake, debate raged for years over whether it should be rebuilt to its original glory, partially restored while being modernised, or razed and a new building erected in its place.

It took more than five years — the time it took France to reopen Notre-Dame — for the Anglican Synod to vote, by a narrow majority, to reinstate the building, at an estimated cost of $104m.

A trust was launched to fundraise the money needed for the rebuild, with $33m of the church’s $44m insurance payout to be used.

The Government pledged a $15m taxpayer contribution, as well as a $10m loan, and Christchurch City Council committed $10m in ratepayer funds.

By 2020 the cost of the project had ballooned to $154m, about 48% higher than originally estimated.

And in August 2024, Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd (CCRL) chairman Mark Stewart confirmed, “with a heavy heart”, construction was being paused while more funding was sought.

Since then, workers have packed up and gone home. The site remains fenced off and silent. It’s an eerie and sad sight in the centre of the city.

In February, it will be 14 years since the quakes. To have the once popular and well-photographed cathedral still broken with little hope of it being finished in the near future is a depressing blight on the city.

France showed with Notre-Dame’s rebuild just what can be done after such disasters, albeit with a bigger population and deeper pockets than New Zealand has.

But for Christchurch to truly move on from the quakes, it needs a restored Christ Church Cathedral and a rejuvenated Cathedral Square.

Until then, it’s just a painful and pronounced reminder of the city’s darkest day.