Notre-Dame cathedral, badly damaged by fire in 2019, should reopen by the end of 2024, according to France's Culture Ministry – too late for the Paris Olympics. The cathedral's distrinctive spire should nonetheless be back in place by the end of this year.
While the culture ministry, which is responsible for the cathedral's structure, says reconstruction work is progressing "at a good pace", the cathedral will not be open in time for the Olympic Games, which Paris is due to host in July and August 2024.
Before the 2019 blaze which destroyed the roof, the spire and much of the 12th-century building's fabric, Notre-Dame typically attracted 12 million visitors every year.
This week saw the beginning of preparatory work for the replacement of the 100-metre spire, regarded as a key milestone on the road to reopening.
The spire lost in 2019 was not part of the original design, having been added by architect Eugene Viollet-Le-Duc during a major refurbishment in the 19th century
The replacement is an identical copy of Viollet-Le-Duc's design, and will involve 500 tonnes of oak for the structure and 250 tonnes of lead for the covering and decoration.
Health concerns over lead
The decision to use lead in the reconstruction provoked health concerns, with French officials being obliged to reassure their European counterparts that adequate safety measures have been taken.
Meanwhile, the painstaking clean-up of the cathedral's interior walls, totalling 42,000 m2, has been completed. Workers have also been carefully cleaning murals, ironwork, joinery, stained glass and sculptures that survived the fire.
A temporary hangar has been built in front of the main facade to house the teams of sculptors working to restore and replace hundreds of statues.
New interior designs are being considered after an international competition, with the winning plan due to be selected this summer.
A controversial plan adopted last year will allow contemporary art among the pieces displayed in the cathedral.
The Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich recently said he wanted "an educational and spiritual journey, not the equivalent of a museum".
