It’s time to start planning for the next thousand years

Standing before the soaring walls of Notre Dame Cathedral can inspire even the most jaded observer. This “symphony in stone,” as Victor Hugo called it, rises more than 10 stories atop dozens of limestone pillars meant to inspire the faithful.

Like many of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, it was the work of generations, built by skilled, paid laborers. A stonecutter laying its foundation could reasonably expect his great-great-grandson to put the finishing touches on the steeple more than a century later.