Notre Dame survived a massive fire months ago, but the beloved Paris cathedral is facing a new threat: a
heat wave.
The high temperatures bearing down on Europe may be a threat to the ailing building, according to Chief Architect Philippe Villeneuve.
"I am very worried about the heat wave because, as you know, the cathedral suffered from the fire, the beams coming down, but also the shock from the water from the firefighters. The masonry is saturated with water," Villeneuve told Reuters on Wednesday.
The
fire destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old building and toppled the spire, which was added during a 19th-century renovation. Now experts fear the structure could give way under the stress of record-breaking heat.
"What I fear is that the joints or the masonry, as they dry, lose their coherence, their cohesion and their structural qualities and that all of sudden, the vault gives way," Villeneuve said.