A large part of the new bell tower with the golden rooster and the cross is already visible from the end of March, the huge wooden roof beam from the beginning of the year. In a few months, only photographs will remind us of the devastating fire that destroyed Notre Dame five years ago. It all happened very quickly, in about an hour the narrow tower collapsed to the horrified looks and screams of hundreds of Parisians who had gathered on the banks of the Seine before the flames engulfed part of the roof. Images of the fiery blaze caused global horror and horror. “Our Lady of Tears”, “The Tragedy of Paris” were the headlines of the French and foreign newspapers. The very day after the tragedy, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the half-destroyed church would be rebuilt within five years. An ambitious promise that few believed at the time.

Part of the celebrations

The fact that Notre Dame was not destroyed by fire on April 15, 2019 is due to the approximately 650 firefighters. Since then, hundreds of craftsmen and workers have been working on its restoration so that the building will soon be restored to its former form. And in time for the start of the Olympic Games on July 26th. On that day she should shine almost entirely with her new exterior. “The removal of the massive scaffolding, parts of which recently towered 90 meters into the Paris sky, should be far enough along for the start of the Games,” said Philippe Yost, head of the public body in charge of rebuilding the cathedral. . The tower should again be clearly visible. The facades of the north and south transepts as well as the roof beam should also be visible until the start of the sporting events. In other words the cathedral according to the Champs-Élysées should have fully recovered its external form before the Games begin.

Because the Gothic masterpiece will be part of the celebrations during the opening ceremony. According to Thomas Zoli, artistic director of the Olympic ceremonies, he will play a role in directing the show. A special tribute is planned for Notre Dame and the new tower, as the theater director and actor told the “France Inter” radio station. For the first time the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium, but in the city center, on the Seine. The six kilometer long boat parade will pass landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame. At the last Olympic Games in Paris in 1924, a religious opening ceremony took place in the cathedral.

The importance of the tower

The tower, rising over 90 meters from the ground, is an iconic feature of the temple. The original one was built in 1250 and was a bell tower. During the French Revolution (1789-1799), it was demolished. More than 70 years later, it was rebuilt as an architectural masterpiece of the 19th century. The tower, whose purpose was purely decorative, was built in 18 months on an octagonal base supported by the four columns of the transept. On April 15, 2019, 500 tons of wood and 250 tons of lead collapsed in almost an hour. The bell tower, which is the highest point of the temple, also has a strong religious significance in addition to its aesthetic and architectural elegance. At the top, a rooster rises in the air, which contains three relics: thorns from St. Stephen of Thorns, relic of Saint Dionysus and Saint Genoveva. The rooster was rescued from the rubble hours after the fire. It will be exhibited in the future Museum of Notre Dame, along with the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ, a holy nail and a fragment of the Holy Cross.

In Christianity the rooster symbolizes the return of light after night. That is why one can see a rooster sitting on many church towers. The relics of Saint Dionysius, the first bishop of Paris and a martyr, and Saint Genoveva, the patron saint of Paris, are said to protect the French capital and its inhabitants. Since mid-December, a new gilded bronze fountain rises into the city’s sky with yet another “heritage” inside. A list of all those who participated in this reconstruction, nearly 2,000 names.

How was the fire caused?

To rebuild the tower, 1,000 oak trees between 100 and 200 years old were cut down. The same number of logs were needed for the scaffolding of the domes of the main church, which were restored according to medieval standards. The new beams were cut one by one with an ax in record time, just like in the time of the first architects, to whom the virtual reality show “Éternelle Notre-Dame” (Eternal Notre-Dame) leads under the cathedral forecourt. “France is the country of architects,” the president said when announcing, just a day after the fire, that the church would be rebuilt within five years. Opera and it happened. Since the foundation stone was laid in 1163, the cathedral has changed its appearance over the centuries: extension work has taken place, it has been the victim of looting and vandalism, and it has been renovated. One of the most important should have been the repair and modernization works that started in July 2018. But just nine months later, the unthinkable happened.

On April 15, 2019, at 6.20 in the afternoon, the first alarm sounded after the start of the Divine Liturgy. Worshipers were forced to leave the temple but were allowed to return as there were no signs of fire. A few minutes later, at 6.43, the alarm went off again. But it was already too late. A huge cloud of smoke could already be seen rising from the top of the cathedral. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. According to the first speculations it was caused by a violation of the smoking ban by a worker at the construction site. Another possible version is that a short circuit was caused.

Editor: Irini Anastasopoulou