Notre Dame fire Macron's five year rebuilding pledge is unrealistic, experts warn

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"It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired."

Cathedrals often took more than a century to build in medieval times, a process that sometimes spanned the lives of several monarchs.

So French President Emmanuel Macron's pledge Tuesday to restore the fire-devastated Notre Dame within five years was at odds with experts who predicted that restoring the jewel of Gothic architecture would most likely take much longer.

A host of specialized artisans and skilled workmen will need to be gathered from around France, and likely beyond. These include master stone-cutters, mortar makers, carpenters, roofers, quarrymen and sculptors.

Speaking before Macron's announcement, Emily Guerry, a professor of medieval history at England's University of Kent, anticipated restoration work on the 850-year-old icon would take around two decades.

“This will be the largest, most important cultural renovation project in France for some time to come,” she said, adding that the process would be “very delicate.”

Jean-Claude Bellanger, secretary-general of Les Compagnons du Devoir, an organization that provides training in manual trades, told Le Parisian newspaper that the niche nature of the work would require an influx of new talent.

“We need to open some 100 places in our carpentry, stone-cutting and roofing sections,” he said, with at least 300 more skilled tradesmen also needing training.

A decade is necessary to train some of the specialized workers required for such a project, Bellanger added.

Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told France Info radio that the 800-year-old roof that went up in flames was built with wood from forests that have all but disappeared.

It won't be rebuilt precisely as it was before because "we don’t, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century," he told 2CNY NEWS.

But before any work could even start, the building has to be made safe, according to Fondation du Patrimoine.

"There is still a risk of collapse of any part of the church, so the priority goes to the 'securitization' of the area to make sure that experts can go safely into the church," said Julien Guinhut, the head of communication and fundraising at the organization. "We are deeply concerned that we could have structural issues."