THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A golden onion-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral that the French fear could become a Russian spy base is to be built at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, according to plans unveiled yesterday.The Franco-Russian SADE-Arch group of architects has been chosen to build the white building from among 10 bidders. The tallest of its five 88ft-high gilded domes will dramatically alter the Paris skyline as it rises above the surrounding 19th century buildings on Paris' Quai Branly.
Overlooking the Seine and a stone's throw from France's most famous landmark, the cathedral will be wreathed in a huge glass solar-panelled roof, which chief architect Manuel Nunez Yanowsky said was designed to evoke an immense waterfall but also symbolically "the veil of the Mother of God".
Archbishop Marc d'Egorievsk, who represents the Moscow patriarchy, said the £30 million project was chosen as it "blends orthodox tradition and the modernity of a city like Paris."
The cathedral will be part of an "Orthodox centre" comprising a vast 3,400 square metre public garden with terraces as well as a library, classrooms, a reception hall and lodgings for church representatives.
Assuming municipal authorities give final planning permission, it will be the first Russian monument to be built in the French capital in more than a century. » | Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, March 18, 2011
