The French Senate has passed a bill saying Notre-Dame Cathedral must be rebuilt as it was before the fire, which destroyed its roof and spire last month.
The restoration bill states that the reconstruction must create a cathedral that is faithful to the "last known visual state" of the building, reports French newspaper Le Monde.
It also says that the restoration must recreate Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's spire, and that any use of new materials will need to be justified.
The French Senate ? the upper house of the French parliament ? adopted the text late on Monday night. Senators added the clauses to the bill created by the National Assembly, the French parliament's lower house.
Députés of the National Assembly and senators both have to agree on the text before the bill can move forward. Once passed by both houses, it will determine how the restoration of the state-owned building proceeds. Bill would end speculation
If the bill progresses in its current state, it would end the speculation over how the cathedral will be rebuilt.
It would seem to go against the desires of both France's president, Emmanuel Macron, and prime minister, Edouard Philippe.
Macron has called for "an inventive reconstruction", and following the fire, Philippe announced an international competition to design a new spire for the cathedral. He told reporters: "As is often the case in the evolution of heritage, we should endow Notre-Dame with a new spire."
Notre-Dame's roo...