French President Emmanuel Macron praised the “sublime” reconstruction of the magnificent 12th-century Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral as he toured it ahead of its reopening on Friday.
Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen on December 7, in time for Christmas, some five years and eight months after the tragic fire that destroyed its roof and destroyed its magnificent timber and lead spire. French President Emmanuel Macron, who had some political ties to the reconstruction after pledging to rebuild it within five years immediately after the fire, paid a final site visit to the church on Friday and gave a speech to the workers involved in the restoration. I met some people. building.
Image combo (top) showing the altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after the fire on April 16, 2019, and after the renovation, taken on Friday, November 29, 2024. (Christophe Petit Tesson and Stephane de Shoutin, Pool via AP)
The project involved around 2,000 people, 1,300 of whom participated, the French newspaper reported. le figaro Today, the cathedral attracted masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, mold makers, roofers, sculptors, decorative artists, and architects. President Macron congratulated them for rising to the “extraordinary challenge” of the “construction project of the century”.
He told the craftsmen: “The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral was a national wound, and through your will, work and dedication you were its repairers (…) You achieved what seemed impossible.”
While touring the cathedral, President Macron praised the work that transformed the building from the blackened shell it was five years ago, and even earlier, from an 800-year-old worn-out Gothic cathedral, to a gleaming church. It was called “Construction.” He called the work “sublime” and said he felt the “blonde stone” was kinder after cleaning.
French President Emmanuel Macron (second from left) and his wife Brigitte Macron (left) visit the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday, November 29, 2024. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)
Workers stand next to a drilling robot during preparations at Notre Dame Cathedral, Wednesday, July 17, 2019, three months after the devastating fires in Paris. French architects say Notre Dame Cathedral is still not safe enough to begin restoration work, more than three months after it was nearly gutted in a devastating fire. (Stephane de Sactin/Pool via AP)
One of the stops on tours of the cathedral is the spire, which caught fire nearby in April 2019 when it was covered with scaffolding for restoration work. The spire burned rapidly and collapsed onto the roof below, its weight breaking through the vaults above the nave and transepts.
The rebuilding of the spire continued in the first months after the fire, with an architectural competition proposed to decide on a new design, and some even suggesting that the glass and steel confection might symbolize modern Paris. It was the subject of controversy. But in the end, cooler heads prevailed, and Notre Dame's third spire was built as a replica of the second spire, designed in the 1850s.
However, the cathedral has not escaped the touch of modernism. French artist and designer Guillaume Bardet was chosen for the furniture, including the decidedly minimalist baptismal font.
More fundamental questions remain about whether and when such a fire will happen again, and what has been learned from the near-total loss of Notre Dame Cathedral. As reported last year, French historian Didier Lichner warned of continued danger to world-class heritage sites. As stated:
This week he leveled criticism at the French government, warning that it was more focused on imposing new environmental standards on old buildings than on protecting them from fires during renovations… Notre Dame Lichner said the cathedral's devastating fire could have been avoided. The government had already been warned shortly before the fire that fire protection at the site was inadequate. These warnings were ignored, he claims.
Mr Lichner said the cathedral was so poorly monitored during the high-risk period when reconstruction work was underway that to this day, no one knows where or how the fire started. talked about. “We don't know where the fire started because we don't have enough people to monitor the cathedral,” he told the newspaper. In fact, I don't think we give ourselves the means to avoid it. ”
This photo shows the baptistery of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, designed by French artist and designer Guillaume Bardet, in Paris on November 29, 2024. Notre-Dame Cathedral is scheduled to reopen in early December 2024, five years after the 2019 fire that destroyed the World Heritage landmark and brought down its towers on December 7, 2024. The ceremony was held on the 8th. spire. (Photo Credit: Christophe PETIT TESSON / POOL / AFP) / Restricted to editorial use – Artist must be mentioned in the publication – To describe the event as specified in the caption (Photo Credit: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/POOL/ AFP via Getty Images)
A hole is seen in the dome inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Firefighters declared success Tuesday after more than 12 hours of battle to extinguish the inferno that has engulfed Paris's iconic Notre-Dame cathedral, which has been stripped of its spire and roof. However, the bell tower and what is known as the Crown of Christ remained. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (CR) and his wife Brigitte Macron (CL), accompanied by President Philippe Jost (Republican) of the public facility “Respite of Notre-Dame de Paris”, visited Paris on November 29th. visited Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. 2024. Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled to reopen in early December 2024, with a weekend ceremony scheduled for December 7th and 8th. The year is 2024, five years after the 2019 fire that destroyed the World Heritage landmark and brought down its spire. (Photo by: Christophe PETIT TESSON/POOL/AFP) (Photo by: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
