The restoration of Paris’s Notre Dame after its partial destruction by fire five years ago will give the world a “shock of hope”, Emmanuel Macron has said as he marked the medieval cathedral’s imminent reopening with a televised walking tour.
Alongside his wife, Brigitte, and the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, the French president was shown around the rebuilt medieval cathedral on Friday morning by Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of France’s national monuments.
Inside the light-filled halls, Macron took in the Clôture Nord du Chœur, a sculpted wall depicting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, and marvelled at the famous rose windows, now cleansed of the crud that had amassed in its corners over generations.
Inside Notre Dame’s most recognisable feature, the spire, Macron’s attention was drawn to marks in the wood that showed the craftsmanship that had gone into the restoration effort. The timber spire, also known as a flèche, rests on frames consisting only of wood, and rebuilding the structure involved applying carpentry methods dating back to the 13th century.
Three thousand wooden dowels had been painstakingly fashioned by a carpenter over four months, from oaks that had to match the wood of the structural beams. “Our heritage is so diverse and rich,” Villeneuve said. “Notre Dame has allowed us to reproduce the same techniques.”
In a speech in front of about 1,300 craftspeople, Macron said: “The shock of the reopening will be as great as that of the fire, but it will be a shock of hope.”
He thanked those who had contributed to the restoration effort with their labour and financial donations. “The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound and you were the remedy, through your determination, hard work and commitment,” he said.
A special mention was given to the firefighters who had run into the flames and “saved this cathedral”.
On 15 April 2019, TV viewers around the globe looked on as flames tore through the building, destroying most of the wood and metal roof and the spire. The precise cause of the blaze was never established but investigators believed it to be accidental, started by either a cigarette or a short circuit in the electrical system.
Immediately after the fire, Macron promised the church would be restored “more beautiful than ever” within five years – a promise that was kept thanks to millions in donations and hundreds of specialist artisans using age-old skills. The total cost of the restoration is expected to be about €700m (£582m).
“Nous y sommes” (here we are), the French president said in a post on X on Friday morning alongside a video clip that showcased the rebuilt cathedral to the strains of Edith Piaf’s Notre Dame de Paris.
The cathedral officially reopens to the public on 7 December.
Before the fire, about 12 million people a year visited Notre Dame. Visitor numbers are expected to be higher after the reopening. While entry to the cathedral will remain free, visitors will need to book a dedicated time slot through an online ticketing system that will launch in early December.
