Rebuilding Notre Dame

Preservation Carpentry Instructor Michael Burrey was one of a handful of Americans invited to lend their traditional building skills to the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Through a connection with Handshouse Studio, he traveled to France last spring to reconstruct the spire, along with Jackson Dubois of the Timber Framers Guild.

From May to July 2023, Michael and Jackson traveled to Thouars in western France, where they joined a crew of French artisans at Asselin, a company contracted to take of part of the restoration work. Their crew transformed French oak into the wooden railings, dormers, quatrefoils, trefoils and various decorative elements of the spire towering above the cathedral.

“It’s the pinnacle of my career,” Michael says. “I have such great appreciation for being able to be a part of the group effort that demonstrated that the traditional trades that built Notre Dame 800 years ago are still here, still viable and teachable and learnable for people today.”

Catch up with the recent news articles and video interviews featuring Michael’s work:

• Front page story in the Boston Globe — “Meet the North End teacher who helped restore the Notre Dame” (download a pdf of the article)
• TV interview with MSN — “Notre Dame previews restoration five years after fire”
• ELLE DECOR — “Meet the American Artisans Who Helped Resurrect Notre Dame Cathedral”
• Plymouth Independent — “A Plymouthean in Paris: This local craftsman helped restore Notre-Dame to its former glory”