By: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
Category: Life in Normandy
Our several centuries old church in Vinnemerville is getting old, and the steeple needed to be updated. The experts decided to replace the steeple, so off it went (you'll find below the photos a video of the event...).
They brought in a large crane, and after several weeks of work cutting into the steeple and placing holders, it was finally time to remove it.
Workers had spent weeks preparing the removal. The crane in place, they moved the chains to the steeple:
The workers fixed the crane's chains to fixed points in the steeple.
After 2 hours, the moment finally came, and the crane lifted the steeple off the church tower.
The removal but was done in less than 1 minute. I would have hoped that they would have lifted it higher, so my angle is not as good as it should have been.
The old steeple was placed on a flat-bed truck and carted out of the village.
Now, until tomorrow, the church is without a steeple, a strange and rare sight. Tomorrow the new steeple arrives.
Here's a video I shot (at the same time) of the major event in the history of Vinnemerville.
