A ‘twin’ of Notre-Dame clock found

Experts hope to use it as a model to rebuild the burnt one.

The “twin” clock was found in a 9th arrondissement church, Sainte-Trinité, by clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot while doing an inventory of historic items in the church.

It has the same mechanism and was built by the same workshop, Collin, in the same year, 1867, though the Notre-Dame clock was more elaborate.

Mr Viot has called the discovery “an enormous stroke of luck... like finding another edition of a book that burned”.

Unlike the destroyed roof structure, no digital scans of the clock mechanism had been made and only photos were available to help rebuild it.

Notre-Dame clockkeeper Olivier Chandez has called the discovery “almost miraculous”.

He says it will allow them to start work on making parts for a replacement clock.

As yet, it is unclear if the reconstruction designs will include a place for the clock under the spire, as in the original layout.

A rebuild without a clock is possible, Mr Chandez fears, but he said that every religious building needs its clock.

So far, only €38million has been received of the €850million donations promised, according to the Archbishop of Paris.