The government of France updated this Saturday (4) the promise to complete, by the end of this year, the reconstruction of the famous tower of Notre-Dame cathedral, one of the most iconic elements of the monumental church consumed by a fire in 2019. The restoration completion of the building, however, should not be finished in time for the Paris Olympic Games in July 2024.
“The works are progressing at a good pace, which allows us to trust in the reopening by the end of next year, in accordance with the objective set by the president [Emmanuel Macron]”, the country’s Ministry of Culture said in a note sent to the AFP news agency. In this scenario, the reopening date would coincide with the day of the Immaculate Conception, December 8.
Macron promised a five-year deadline for restoration in 2019, with the National Assembly endorsing the deadline months later, through the approval of a law aimed at reconstruction.
Before the fire, Notre-Dame was one of the main tourist attractions in Paris and the most frequented historical monument in Europe, receiving more than 12 million visitors a year. The medieval Gothic-style construction took 180 years to complete and has more than eight centuries of history, but on that April 15th it almost collapsed.
The Needle (“flèche” in French) that crowned the construction, a 93-metre-high thin tower in the transept of the cathedral, is one of the most delicate points of the restoration. It had been designed in the 19th century by the architect Viollet-Le-Duc, and the fall in the fire left a hole in the vaults inside the church, with debris invading the nave.
The piece is being rebuilt identically to the original, including in terms of materials – there are 500 tons of oak wood for the structure and 250 tons of lead for the roof and decorations.
The latter was the subject of discussions in the works, for health reasons, in a context in which the executive branch of the European Union is studying a ban on its use. Minister Rima Abdul Malak’s office stated that France maintains a dialogue with the bloc’s authorities on the use of lead and that the construction complies with all the parameters of the country’s legislation, which is said to be one of the strictest on the continent.
In 2019, weeks after the fire, Macron even hinted at the possibility of building a new spire in a modern style. The following year, after debates between the president and the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, the decision was sealed to rebuild Notre-Dame exactly as it was before.
As soon as the four stone arches of the transept are completed, the reconstruction of the bases of Agulha will begin — the wooden structure, in the form of semi-arches, is ready, and the stones have already been carved. The cleaning and restoration of the walls has been completed (there are more than 42,000 square meters of surfaces), as well as items such as paintings, stained glass and sculptures that were spared by the fire in the south part of the nave.
The diocese responsible for administering the cathedral is preparing for the middle of this year, in the summer of the northern hemisphere, the announcement of a competition created to choose the new interior furniture. Five designers present projects.
The Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, said in an official church publication that the aim is that, at the end of the work, Notre-Dame becomes “an educational and spiritual journey” without becoming the equivalent of a museum.
Access to the cathedral, on the île de la Cité, in the heart of Paris in the middle of the Seine River, will be simplified, with the expansion of green areas in the surroundings.
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