Speaker 1: Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I
Speaker 1: will be reading National Geographic Magazine dated February twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: which is donated by the publisher. As a reminder, RADIOI
Speaker 1: is a reading service intended for people who are blind
Speaker 1: or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
Speaker 1: printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of
Speaker 1: the article I began last time, entitled The Quest to
Speaker 1: re Engineer Beer by Adam Rogers. Fir Streppen wants to
Speaker 1: rescue non alcoholic wine too, And after that I tasted
Speaker 1: a formula he's working on for non alcoholic gin. It
Speaker 1: was close down to the warming sensation. The model gave
Speaker 1: us components that I wouldn't have thought about. He says, sure,
Speaker 1: I say, but the warming thing, it's the pain and
Speaker 1: heat sensors in the trigeminal nerve. I venture a guess
Speaker 1: that he did it with. Cap says, in, which is
Speaker 1: what makes chili peppers hot? Astreppin hesitates, there are millions
Speaker 1: of dollars at stake here. He says only that it's
Speaker 1: not chili pepper, and then he clams up. He's at
Speaker 1: the world's only yeast whisperer. After all, big commodity yeast companies, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a thing, sell maltose negative strains. Similar to Smart Yeast,
Speaker 1: a California start up offers genetically engineered versions that could
Speaker 1: add even more bespoke flavors to a beer or wine
Speaker 1: while cutting out the alcohol. The non alcoholic beers that
Speaker 1: emerge will be something wholly new, may be even something
Speaker 1: delicious and wildly popular. But then is it really still beer.
Speaker 1: That's something Debates hinted at Over Drink, said Brasserie de
Speaker 1: les sene. I really believe that alcohol belongs to beer,
Speaker 1: he said, there is no beer without alcohol. Obviously, Debates
Speaker 1: acknowledged alcohol can be addictive and has all kinds of
Speaker 1: potential societal costs. But for millennia, humans have enjoyed having
Speaker 1: conversations with each other while their minds are slightly altered,
Speaker 1: a little less suspicious, a little more relaxed. And we
Speaker 1: need them now as much as ever. You see what
Speaker 1: we're living in today, he said, The world is a catastrophe.
Speaker 1: We need to rebuild those high quality connections. Of course,
Speaker 1: the people eagerly downing na beers in bars and at
Speaker 1: parties probably feel the quality of their connection is just fine,
Speaker 1: and people who don't drink alcohol for health or religious
Speaker 1: reasons deserve a beer like product that actually tastes good.
Speaker 1: The market wants what it wants. I left Belgium with
Speaker 1: a souvenir a bottle of smart Yeast Negra Modella from
Speaker 1: the table in that ab Imbev tasting room. I carried
Speaker 1: it home in my luggage, wrapped in t shirts on
Speaker 1: a warm afternoon. A couple of weeks later, I cracked
Speaker 1: it open and it was still good. I still liked it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to fix our dystopia. I was just
Speaker 1: having a cold beer next. Texas horned lizards are everywhere
Speaker 1: except where they belong by asher elbine, habitat loss and
Speaker 1: invasive predators have decimated their population, but an unlikely coalition
Speaker 1: of scientists and ranchers is working to bring the grumpy
Speaker 1: faced animals back from the brink. Out of state visitors
Speaker 1: may not know what they're looking at, but fans of
Speaker 1: Texas Christian University TCU get fired up when Superfrog runs
Speaker 1: onto the football field. Human size and gray with pointy
Speaker 1: protrusions on its head and spiky popeye like forearms Superfrog
Speaker 1: is the school's mascot, meant to induce fear in the
Speaker 1: hearts of opposing teams. Superfrog's real life inspiration, though, isn't
Speaker 1: nearly as intimidating. TCU's mascot is based on a creature
Speaker 1: that's at most four inches long and almost comically sedate,
Speaker 1: with a pancake shaped body and grumpy face under thorny crowns.
Speaker 1: It's not even technically a frog, or, as many Texans
Speaker 1: refer to it, a horned toad. It's a Texas horned lizard,
Speaker 1: and the rest of the state loves the real thing
Speaker 1: just as much as TCU loves Superfrog. While not a
Speaker 1: keystone species, horned lizards might be considered charismatic microfauna so
Speaker 1: culturally significant that losing them would be like losing a
Speaker 1: crucial piece of what makes Texas Texas. These prehistoric looking
Speaker 1: wildlife celebrities adorn airplane tails and license plates, murals, and postcards.
Speaker 1: They've been the official state reptiles since nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1: In the town of Eastland, population three thousand, six hundred thirteen.
Speaker 1: You can even visit the tiny tomb of Texas's most
Speaker 1: famous horned lizard over rip as in rip van Winkle,
Speaker 1: who inspired the Looney Tunes dancing Frog character and supposedly
Speaker 1: survived thirty one years in a time capsule. Despite their
Speaker 1: cult status and cultural presence, horned lizards are increasingly rare
Speaker 1: to come by in the wild. As a kid in
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, Texan Wade Smith grew up playing with
Speaker 1: horned lizards and says children could find the baby dinosaurs
Speaker 1: as he thought of them, all over the land. During
Speaker 1: the past several decades, however, the lizards have largely vanished
Speaker 1: from their territory across most of the state. Their habitats
Speaker 1: have been devoured by urban expansion, in hospitable grasses, and
Speaker 1: invasive fire ants, decimating their food supply. Smith is one
Speaker 1: of a number of nostalgic ranchers in Texas now volunteering
Speaker 1: their properties to be part of the lizard's big return.
Speaker 1: But before that can happen, researchers need to figure out
Speaker 1: how to help Texas's reptilian icons survive in a rapidly
Speaker 1: changing environment. On a bright fall day, Diane Barber drives
Speaker 1: a truck deep into the heart of the Texas hill
Speaker 1: Country in the bed two hundred twenty seven baby lizards
Speaker 1: in massive coolers. She's coming from Fort Worth Zoo's Reptile Lab,
Speaker 1: a stone walled greenhouse tucked into the Zoo's Texas Wild
Speaker 1: attraction that showcases animals from different echo regions across the state.
Speaker 1: There rubber tubs filled with sand, cork, bark, and prickly
Speaker 1: pear house curious horned lizards peeking out from under grass clumps.
Speaker 1: Twenty five years ago, Fort Worth Zoo became the first
Speaker 1: in the country to determine the precise combination of temperature
Speaker 1: and humidity required to successfully breed Texas horned lizards, among
Speaker 1: the largest of twenty one species of horned lizards native
Speaker 1: to the United States. Since twenty seventeen, the zoo has
Speaker 1: reintroduced around sixteen hundred fifty hatchlings into the wild, with
Speaker 1: support from other Texas zoos and state funding. Much of
Speaker 1: that effort has been overseed by Barber fort Worth Zoo's
Speaker 1: senior Curator of Ectotherms, who moved from the ESCA in
Speaker 1: two thousand and one to supervise the institution's collection. At first,
Speaker 1: she was caught off guard by the intense reverence from
Speaker 1: locals for a creature so small and unassuming. It's a
Speaker 1: rarity to see that kind of connection between a reptile
Speaker 1: and people, Barber says, but they are definitely charismatic enough
Speaker 1: to where you start to almost feel like you have
Speaker 1: a little bond with them. By keeping the lizards indoors
Speaker 1: under ultraviolet light and matching individuals carefully based on genetics
Speaker 1: to avoid inbreeding, Barber can now reliably hatch hundreds in
Speaker 1: a year. She's helped by the fact that females can
Speaker 1: lay fifteen to forty five eggs at a time and
Speaker 1: sometimes produce multiple clutches, which take about two months to
Speaker 1: hatch in a year. Baby horned lizards, she's learned, are
Speaker 1: a bit particular. They require temperatures in the mid eighties,
Speaker 1: need to be fed four times a day, and are
Speaker 1: surprisingly prone to dehydration, so their tanks must be misted regularly.
Speaker 1: The hatched horned lizards, about as big as a penny,
Speaker 1: stay at the zoo for several weeks until the mature
Speaker 1: enough to be released at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area,
Speaker 1: a stretch of government owned prairie land in central Texas.
Speaker 1: The fifty five hundred acre property about a three and
Speaker 1: a half hour drive southwest from Fort Worth is a
Speaker 1: postcard come to life, with ancient oak groves and giant
Speaker 1: pink granite outcrops. The horned lizards are less interested in
Speaker 1: the view and more appreciative that the area is filled
Speaker 1: with their favorite food. Red harvester ants also native to
Speaker 1: the region. Harvester Ants help aerate the soil with their
Speaker 1: extensive tunnels and send to foraging caravans to collect and
Speaker 1: in the process disperse the seeds of native grasses that
Speaker 1: become coveted horned lizard habitats. Over the years, the ant's
Speaker 1: numbers have declined across the state, due in large part
Speaker 1: to invasive fire ants, but May Mountain's control program aims
Speaker 1: to grow the population, which means happier horned blizzards. Barber's
Speaker 1: exactingly bred and painstakingly nurtured lizards don't get sent out
Speaker 1: into the wild completely naked. Researchers from TCU's biology program
Speaker 1: glue harmonic tags onto the backs of the lizards, making
Speaker 1: it easier to locate them in the wild and determine
Speaker 1: the most viable areas for reintroduction. When you're a small lizard,
Speaker 1: you need to be put in the right spot early on,
Speaker 1: explains Kira Gangpin, a pH d student studying horned lizard ecology.
Speaker 1: Gangbin and her fellow researchers will wander the grounds of
Speaker 1: Mason Mountain with radio receivers, playing a game of hot
Speaker 1: and cold with the little lizards until they find finally
Speaker 1: find one bearing witness to the release of two hundred
Speaker 1: twenty seven baby horned lizards. I can see why Texans
Speaker 1: have fallen head over heels for these frowny faced round blobs. Barber,
Speaker 1: Gangbin and other researchers line up in a stretch of
Speaker 1: Mason Mountain with Deli cups, gently placing hatchlings one by
Speaker 1: one on the ground among tufts of wild flowers and
Speaker 1: blooming cacti. Some sit frozen, while others take off immediately,
Speaker 1: waddling determinedly into the cover of the grass. Despite the
Speaker 1: months of hard work leading up to this moment, the
Speaker 1: entire release takes only about fifteen minutes. In the ensuing
Speaker 1: days and weeks, many of Barber's lizards will be hard
Speaker 1: to track, some will be picked off by predators like
Speaker 1: coach whip snakes, road runners, and skunks, and others will
Speaker 1: shed their tags or otherwise become untraceable, but the ones
Speaker 1: that survive will grow quickly. Gangbin plans to return daily
Speaker 1: over the next couple of months to track how many
Speaker 1: remain before their first winter torpur. So far, the results
Speaker 1: have been encouraging. At least twenty five new hatchlings have
Speaker 1: been documented since releases began at Mason Mountain in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: suggesting that reintroduced horned lizards are beginning to breed naturally.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing to be able to be part of that,
Speaker 1: says Barber, her voice breaking. Rancher Smith understands the affectionate attachment.
Speaker 1: They're sentimental, he says, speaking up for Texans across the
Speaker 1: state who remember the lizards from real life, not just
Speaker 1: college games or souvenir mugs. Eventually, Barber hopes to expand
Speaker 1: releases beyond Mason Mountain and onto private land, which makes
Speaker 1: up the majority of the Texas horned lizard's original habitat.
Speaker 1: Plenty of ranchers, like Smith want them reintroduced on their properties,
Speaker 1: so many, Barber says that there's a waiting list, but
Speaker 1: there is still a lot to learn about habitat requirements
Speaker 1: and management techniques. Before the fort Worth Zoo can take
Speaker 1: them up on the offer. Until then, Smith has added
Speaker 1: his name to the list, joining everyone else in the
Speaker 1: hope that Texas is living. Mascot makes its big comeback next,
Speaker 1: the mission to keep the border Lands wild. In the
Speaker 1: rugged terrain where Mexico and the United States meet, a
Speaker 1: border wall is just the latest obstacle fragmenting habitats and
Speaker 1: disrupting migration paths. Here's how a cadre of conservationists is
Speaker 1: trying to get animals moving. To appreciate how the Mandarin
Speaker 1: Sky Islands earn their nickname, it helps to imagine the
Speaker 1: hawk's eye view looking down over the border lands that
Speaker 1: stretch out across Arizona and New Mexico and the Mexican
Speaker 1: states of Sonora and Chihuahua, you would see a wide
Speaker 1: swath of desert scattered with more than fifty small rugged
Speaker 1: mountain ranges an archipelago of green on either side of
Speaker 1: the international border. These high country oases help make the
Speaker 1: Sky Islands region one of the world's most spectacularly biodiverse,
Speaker 1: a place where a fleet footed mammal might wander among
Speaker 1: five different biomes in the day. From dusty desert scrub
Speaker 1: to lush pine and fir forests. Millennia, wild creatures of
Speaker 1: all sorts, javelinas and prong horn, coyotes and ocelots, black
Speaker 1: bears and jaguars have moved across this land by following
Speaker 1: the ridge lines and waterways, a network of cool, wet
Speaker 1: corridors where vegetation thrives. From above, it's easy to trace
Speaker 1: these time worn roots, green ribbons against the tawny earth.
Speaker 1: He would also notice intrusions, roads and highways, irrigated farm fields,
Speaker 1: ranch fences stretched across rangelands where grazing and erosion have
Speaker 1: stripped the soil, and along the international border, the patchy
Speaker 1: black line of an immense wall, some two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty miles of which have been built through the heart
Speaker 1: of the Sky Island since twenty seventeen. All of these
Speaker 1: are potential interruptions to the ancient arteries that lead animals
Speaker 1: through the border lands, routes that photographer and National Geographic
Speaker 1: Explorer Jimmie Roho knows well. A former project director for
Speaker 1: a Mexican conservation organization, Roho has spent the past two
Speaker 1: years documenting the myriad ways that human development fragments wildlife
Speaker 1: habitat in the Sky Islands, disrupting animals, annual animals annual
Speaker 1: and seasonal movement, and hindering access to food, water, and mates.
Speaker 1: Along the way. He has also seen firsthand how a
Speaker 1: remarkable coalition is working on both sides of the border
Speaker 1: to preserve and restore the region's ecological integrity. It's a
Speaker 1: group that includes scientists monitoring the limited wildlife passages in
Speaker 1: the border wall, private ranchers reintroducing native plants and animals
Speaker 1: to their lands, and indigenous leaders reclaiming stewardship of sacred
Speaker 1: and ancestral territory. Among the defenders are pioneers like Valor Clark,
Speaker 1: eighty five year old founder of the nonprofit Kuencha vos
Speaker 1: oschos Ohos, who has spent decades stacking rocks in dusty washes,
Speaker 1: repairing stream beds, and restoring vegetation on erosion scar ranch lands.
Speaker 1: Also researchers like National Geographic explorer Ganesh Marin, who has
Speaker 1: logged countless back country miles, installing motion sensing wildlife cameras
Speaker 1: and gathering vital data about the movement patterns of animals
Speaker 1: like black bears, javelinas, and elusive jaguars. They are all
Speaker 1: pragmatic and realistic, rojosays, and their common thread is that
Speaker 1: they all are in love with the Sky Islands. Today,
Speaker 1: as construction continues on a border wall that already bisects
Speaker 1: much of the region, many of these partners find themselves
Speaker 1: more separated than ever and seeking new ways to collaborate
Speaker 1: to ensure some of the continent's oldest animal migrations don't
Speaker 1: vanish completely. This article by Brian Kevin, can doggy doors
Speaker 1: help animals cross the border? Smaller animals might pass through
Speaker 1: the border wall using openings by the size of a
Speaker 1: standard sheet of paper that some have likened to doggy doors.
Speaker 1: Border officials say over fifty such openings were installed across
Speaker 1: Arizona between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty, with more added since.
Speaker 1: Emon Heridy, who monitors wildlife crossings for the Sky Island Alliance,
Speaker 1: says his organization counts thirty along some one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty miles of border in the Sky Islands region. How
Speaker 1: obstacles hinder wildlife movement in the borderlands. For larger mammals
Speaker 1: like black bears, which cover vast areas in search of
Speaker 1: food and mates. The border wall is simply the most
Speaker 1: conspicuous of the barriers that might prevent travel along the
Speaker 1: streams and ridge lines of the Sky Islands. Other human
Speaker 1: made obstructions, such as roads and ranch fences, can also
Speaker 1: be restrictive, as shown by the movement of GPS collared
Speaker 1: bears tracked by National Geographic explorer Ganesh Maran making the
Speaker 1: perfect photograph at ten thousand feet. It took two years
Speaker 1: and a rare streak of good weather to document a
Speaker 1: historic winter climb of Serro. The Southern Patagonian ice field,
Speaker 1: on the border of Argentina and Chile is remote, windy,
Speaker 1: and bitterly cold. Last September I slept cameras and camping
Speaker 1: gear by ski and sled across thirty miles of unforgiving
Speaker 1: terrain to document climber Colin Hayley's attempt to make the
Speaker 1: first solo winter ascent of ten thousand, two hundred sixty
Speaker 1: two foot Sero Torre. We kept in constant radio contact,
Speaker 1: and while Colin made his way over a crevice in
Speaker 1: the glacier and up to a bivouac a couple of
Speaker 1: rope lengths below the summit, I hauled nearly eighty pounds
Speaker 1: of gear to the base of the mountain and set
Speaker 1: up my own camp. As he approached the final rhyme
Speaker 1: formations that in case the peak, I launched my drone
Speaker 1: to capture a series of images showing him alone on
Speaker 1: the world's wildest tower of stone and ice. Photograph and
Speaker 1: words by Tyler Lecky. Next How Brazil Went Country by
Speaker 1: Mac Margolis. An agricultural boom sweeps the nation. A homegrown
Speaker 1: musical style and a new kind of cowboy flare is
Speaker 1: moving from its rural roots to the center of the
Speaker 1: popular culture. The band was still tuning up when the
Speaker 1: first screams peeled through the crowded fairgrounds in Cuiaba, a
Speaker 1: regional capital in Brazil's farm belt. A few feet from
Speaker 1: the stage, a ten year old girl in a spangled
Speaker 1: black cowboy hat, sequin jeans and embroidered leather boots added
Speaker 1: hers to the mix. Her cheeks wet with happy tears,
Speaker 1: her eyes were locked on Anna Costella, the reigning star
Speaker 1: of Brazilian country music, as she owned the main stage
Speaker 1: at the ex Poagro. She is incredible, wonderful, the young
Speaker 1: girl gushed afterwards. She's perfect. Castella, a twenty two year
Speaker 1: old velvet voiced pop diva with a Latin Grammy in
Speaker 1: her saddle bag and fifteen point four million monthly listeners
Speaker 1: on Spotify. Is the latest idol from Brazil's homegrown style
Speaker 1: of music called sertinejo. The folk music began in the certaio,
Speaker 1: the country's hard scrabble backlands, but has since modernized, electrified,
Speaker 1: and taken over the charts, with everything from torch songs
Speaker 1: to subgenres like agrono, and with its odes to big
Speaker 1: agriculture as one hit song's lyrics go hey hey Hey,
Speaker 1: sprang poison from the plane. Today, the most popular sound
Speaker 1: in Brazilian music exalts as saddles and pickups, spirit buoyed
Speaker 1: by the conversion of forests, prairies and savannahs into commodity crops,
Speaker 1: livestock ranches and a trade surplus. Half of the music
Speaker 1: consumed in Brazil today is certeino. The other half is
Speaker 1: something else, said former president of Sony Music Brazil, Paolo Junquerraro,
Speaker 1: who helps oversee the explosion of country music. So we
Speaker 1: are talking about a genre that represents half the output
Speaker 1: of all new artists. No rodeo or farm expo, and
Speaker 1: there are hundreds across Brazil. Every year is complete without
Speaker 1: a line up of Certa Neajo artists crooning to stadium
Speaker 1: size crowds. Here in Cuyaba, capital of Mato Grosso State,
Speaker 1: the epicenter of the country's richest farm land, the city's
Speaker 1: annual expo Agro, is part trade fair and part Coachella,
Speaker 1: where Certa Neejo fans sport fringe jackets and belt buckles.
Speaker 1: The size of houp gaps, bull riding and heavy machinery
Speaker 1: showcases fill the schedule. Executive jets streak overhead, shuttling farm
Speaker 1: moguls from deal to deal, while all while Castella delivers
Speaker 1: her twenty twenty five hit Oja hon de Euto Look
Speaker 1: where I Am, with a defiant chorus that sinks he
Speaker 1: wanted me to move from the country. He told me
Speaker 1: to choose between rodeo and love. Behind this Certa Naho
Speaker 1: boom is an economic and demographic upheaval that is turning
Speaker 1: Latin America's largest country inside out. Agrabusiness, which drives about
Speaker 1: twenty nine percent of GDP, has shifted population, power and
Speaker 1: wealth inland. Brazil is now the world's leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, beef,
Speaker 1: sugar and more. Certain Nejo represents this part of Brazil
Speaker 1: that works, which is led by Brazilian agribusiness, says Mato
Speaker 1: Grosso Governor Maro Mendays. But how did country music take
Speaker 1: over one of Latin America's most urbanized nations, particularly one
Speaker 1: known for a stylish cool emanating from cultural epicenters like
Speaker 1: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. As Brazil's ranchers and
Speaker 1: planters prospered, their scions moved to the cities to study.
Speaker 1: Bringing their guitars, they blended rock and pop and cranked
Speaker 1: the volume to eleven. The result university Sara certain Naho,
Speaker 1: an eclectic subject that's now ubiquitous on the airwaves. Certanejo
Speaker 1: is the Brazilian popular music nowadays, says Wander Oliviera, managing
Speaker 1: partner of Work Show, the nation's leading producer of country music.
Speaker 1: That explains why acclaimed three hundred thousand, three hundred thousand
Speaker 1: came to the Expo Agro in Cuyaba this past July,
Speaker 1: and why two million revelers gathered in downtown South Paulo,
Speaker 1: Latin America's financial center, to hear country duo Bruno and
Speaker 1: Morone ring in New Year twenty twenty five, and also
Speaker 1: why when fabled balladeer Marilia Mendonza was killed in a
Speaker 1: plane crash in twenty twenty one at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty six, her funeral Cortege in Guayana, was broadcast nationwide. Paradoxically,
Speaker 1: the music is inspired by cherished pastoral traditions and pristine landscapes,
Speaker 1: both of which are receding with every harvest as cowboys
Speaker 1: are increasingly replaced by machines. But that's not yet the
Speaker 1: concern of Certinejo. When it's not full throated agro Neho,
Speaker 1: Brazil's biggest pop music is all about jilted lovers, longing
Speaker 1: and heartbreak, composed to bring even country roughs to tears,
Speaker 1: and what was once a con conservative genre has loosened
Speaker 1: with the times women Mendosa, Matella Simone Mendes dominate the charts.
Speaker 1: Some of the star cowgirls runa Viola compoorste Rana Prado
Speaker 1: prefer other cowgirls. Twin sister act Mariya and Marisa helped
Speaker 1: break the ceiling for the women of Certanejo, writing in
Speaker 1: their words about kachaka and romanticism, infidelity and passion men's stuff.
Speaker 1: Certainejo has come a long way since first being dismissed
Speaker 1: by urbanites as lullabies for kaipira's or yokels. Country music
Speaker 1: headliners produced nine of the ten most popular albums on
Speaker 1: Brazilian Spotify from twenty fourteen to twenty twenty three. If
Speaker 1: there's one more accolade to earn its global recognition. For
Speaker 1: all its stardom and radio dominance, Certinejo remains largely landlocked.
Speaker 1: Sung exclusively in Portuguese, it has not swept the international
Speaker 1: stage for now. Its superstars are plenty busy in Brazil
Speaker 1: crooning for cowboys and ten year old girls and everyone
Speaker 1: in between, oh while fueling the biggest pop music playlist
Speaker 1: the rest of the world has yet to hear. Next.
Speaker 1: Can the basilica that inspired a Notre Dame return to
Speaker 1: glory by Robert Kunzig inside a one hundred eighty year
Speaker 1: quest to restore the world's first Gothic church. The Basilica
Speaker 1: of Sandini, just north of Paris, attracts few visitors considering
Speaker 1: its profound historical import. Not only is it the final
Speaker 1: resting place for dozens of Frons, French kings and queens,
Speaker 1: it's often called the Royal Necropolis of France. Sandny is
Speaker 1: also the birthplace of Gothic architecture. The pointed arches, the
Speaker 1: lofty ribbed ceiling vaults, the light pouring in through tall
Speaker 1: stained glass windows. All of those innovations first came together
Speaker 1: here in the twelfth century. Soon they were imitated at
Speaker 1: churches across France and Europe, most famously at Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: six miles to the south. They still can be admired
Speaker 1: to this day at San Denis, but the basilica's most
Speaker 1: prominent Gothic feature cannot the bell tower at its north
Speaker 1: front corner, Topped by a stone spire that once soared
Speaker 1: to nearly three hundred feet. It's a scalped monuments. As
Speaker 1: eminent historian Jean Miquel Lenyaud, author of several books on
Speaker 1: Saan Deny, for nearly one hundred eighty years, both the
Speaker 1: church and the town of Saan Denis have been without
Speaker 1: that landmark steeple. Damaged by storms. It was dismantled in
Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven, supposedly so that it could be built
Speaker 1: back better. That never happen. The French government's Historic Monuments
Speaker 1: Service also found it had more urgent demands on its funds.
Speaker 1: Even as a succession of Sandini mayor's pleaded for help.
Speaker 1: The loss of that tower has remained in the town's
Speaker 1: memory like an amputation, says historic monuments architect Jacques Mulain. Now,
Speaker 1: thanks to a plan devised by Moulin, the wound is
Speaker 1: being healed from a shed behind the basilica. The thump
Speaker 1: and clang of mallet on chisel and chisel on stone
Speaker 1: echo off the ancient walls inside. Artisans carved building blocks
Speaker 1: by hand. High up on the front facade, on the
Speaker 1: stump of the vanished tower, masons lay the first blocks
Speaker 1: of what is meant to be as authentic a replica
Speaker 1: as possible. By twenty thirty or so, Sandinis should have
Speaker 1: its spire back. The new tower will survey a vastly
Speaker 1: changed landscape. Sandinis, once a village centered on its namesake Abbey,
Speaker 1: is now a working class suburb with a large population
Speaker 1: of immigrants, many of them Muslim. But the basilica remains
Speaker 1: the town's central attraction, a potential economic engine as well
Speaker 1: as a spiritual sanctuary. With no financing available from the
Speaker 1: French national government, which owns the building, Sandinese current mayor
Speaker 1: Mathieu Hanouten has drawn mostly on regional government support to
Speaker 1: cobble together a thirty eight million euro budget for the
Speaker 1: new tower and visitor center. We are doing what we
Speaker 1: always should have done, says architectural historian Matteau Lures, just
Speaker 1: one hundred eighty years late. This concludes readings from National
Speaker 1: Geographic Magazine for today. Your reader has been Marcia. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. Keep on listening and have a great day.