After the end of the Great War, the architect Henri Deneux had to do what he could to cover the cathedral of Reims. The roof structure was in ashes, the south-east pillar had been severed by a shell and the north tower was wobbly. More than 86,000 sq. ft (8,000 m²) were exposed to the elements. Deneux salvaged 59,200 sq. ft (5,500 m²) of corrugated iron from an army depot and had the south-east pillar shored up. Once his ingenious reinforced concrete structure was completed, at the end of the 1920s, he had the lead spilled on the vaults collected. With new lead, he had it melted down and cast in flat sheets to cover the roof, according to the methods of the Middle Ages.