I guess so long as the tourists are happy, all is well.
I sense sarcasm, but isn't the main value of this building that it gives people from all over the world a chance to experience a piece of human history?
Let's talk about what has really been lost here, because to me that's actually an interesting question.
The church can be made functionally and aesthetically identical to before the fire, but people feel that there's more to it than just that.
A few years ago I got to see one of the genuine copies of the Magna Carta in Edmonton, and there's certainly a thrill that comes from being right there in person with one of the most famous documents in history. I could actually feel my heart beating faster. It wouldn't have inspired the same sense of awe if I had known it was just a copy or a forgery. But then again, if the actual document I was looking at was actually a high-quality forgery, I'd have never known it. So some of the excitement I felt looking at the document was rooted in my belief that it was authentic. Part of the magic is knowing that it's the only one. Will Notre Dame still be authentic after it's reconstructed? That's a tough question, but I think that much of the original structure has survived. It'll still be the only one of its kind-- it's not like when somebody put up a replica of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu. It's the same location and much of the original building, even if they now have to reconstruct the roof.
I go to the big Father's Day car show here in town each summer. There are many beautiful classics, most of them have been painstakingly restored. Every year there are a few completely original cars-- ones that have been driven as-is for 40 or 50 or 60 years without any restoration at all, and are still in very nice condition. That's quite impressive, but I don't think it makes the beautifully restored cars any less impressive. Some of these vehicles are simply stunning, and knowing that they've had new paint and upholstery and an engine rebuild doesn't make them less so. Part of the appeal is that you're looking at something from another era... the paint on that '69 Charger might be a year old and the 426 Hemi might have been completely rebuilt 2 years ago, but you're still looking at something from 50 years ago, an aesthetic and a concept from a very different society. That car wouldn't, and probably couldn't, be built the same way today. And there are also exotic cars at the car show... vehicles that are not old but are so far removed from the mainstream of the automotive industry that they're almost a different field altogether. Some absurd quarter-million dollar Lamborghini that has a 1000 horsepower engine and can go 4 times the legal speed limit, that's not really a means of transportation so much as a means of demonstrating the possibilities of what could be built if money didn't matter. I think the Notre Dame cathedral is like both the Charger and the Lamborghini, a product of a completely different era and mindset that we can still look at today, but also an example of the kind of artistry that humans are capable if money is no object. I think it's inspiring in both senses, and will continue to be so after it's reconstructed.
-k