Paris: Five years after the fire, Notre Dame Cathedral is preparing to reopen in December

Five years after the fire that devastated Notre Dame on April 15, 2019, The reopening of the Parisian cathedral is still scheduled for December 8thaccording to Philippe Jost, president of the public body responsible for overseeing its reconstruction.

Around 250 companies and hundreds of craftsmen, architects and other professionals worked on the reconstruction of the cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first phase involved removing tons of debrisand was extended due to disruptions caused by Covid, the need to ensure safety measures in place and the remediation of the building, in particular the lead on the roof, which melted during the fire.

That phase was completed in mid-2021, with a cost of 150 million euros (around 155 million dollars).

Shortly afterwards, restoration work began, both in the cathedral and in the numerous workshops of artisans who participated remotely in the repair or recreation of stained glass windows, stones or the identical reconstruction of the wooden structure of the nave and choir.

This complex operation, concluded in March, required the felling of more than a thousand two-hundred-year-old trees selected in French forests.

The spire designed by 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc, which collapsed along with part of the roof, was visible again in February.

Inside the temple, experts took the opportunity to clean the walls, windows, vaults and decorations. That phase is almost complete and allowed the cathedral to return to a luminosity unknown in recent memory.

“It’s really wonderful, all these colors had completely disappeared. I’m discovering them now,” Notre Dame vice-rector Guillaume Normand told AFP.

The great organ, covered in lead dust, was cleaned and its 8,000 pipes were reassembled, one by one. Its development is expected to take six months.

Work on the ceilings of the nave, choir and spire should be completed by the summer, as well as the restoration of the black and white checkered floors and some work on the artistic furniture in the interior.

It is also in the process of being installed an important fire prevention system.

The period windows, among which the three enormous medieval rose windows stand out, now show a filtered light.

A competition has been launched to create contemporary stained glass windows, which will not be installed until 2026.

The total budget for this reconstruction phase is expected it will remain “below” the estimated 550 million euros (about $585 million), according to Jost.

The cathedral fire sparked a solidarity movement around the world, leading to 846 million euros in donations ($901 million), of which approximately 150 million will be allocated to restoring the external parts eroded by the fire.

Starting in autumn, the esplanade and entrances to the cathedral will be cleared and renovated, in collaboration with the City of Paris, which is tasked with renovating the surroundings of Notre Dame by 2028.

The rector of Notre Dame, Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, estimates that they will be “13 to 14 million” of annual visitors in the future, up from 12 million before the fire.

AFP agency