After being toppled during the 2019 fire, the spire of Notre-Dame rises again
President Emmanuel Macron of France was in the heart of Paris on Friday to check on progress on the restoration of an 860-year-old limestone monument: the Notre-Dame Cathedral, whose familiar silhouette is once again rising on the skyline of the French capital.
On a cold, damp morning, Mr. Macron donned a hard hat and took a three-minute elevator ride to visit a new spire nearing completion atop the famous Gothic building that was destroyed by a devastating fire in April 2019 .
His visit came one year to the day before the reopening of Notre Dame, on December 8, 2024, when Catholics will celebrate the Immaculate Conception.
“It is a great source of pride,” Macron said as he shook hands with the carpenters from the top of the scaffolding. Later, he looked down at the workers gathering further away and shouted, “Merci!”
He had reason to be grateful. The flames were still smoldering when he pledged in 2019 that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years — an ambitious deadline that officials are increasingly confident will be met.
The spire is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Carpenters are also almost finished with a new triangular wooden loft to replace what used to be called the ‘forest’ – a trellis of old wood destroyed by the fire.
Inside, workers have begun removing scaffolding from the nave and chancel and are almost done cleaning more than 40,000 square meters of stone surfaces darkened by soot, dust and lead particles.
“We have seen this seemingly impossible project move forward,” Macron said.
Renovation work – especially on the outside – will continue for several years after the cathedral reopens, but Notre-Dame will be able to welcome religious services and visitors, 12 million of whom came every year.
The fire destroyed the entire attic of Notre-Dame, melted the lead sheathing of the roof and seriously compromised the stability of the stone structure. The spire burned and collapsed, punching giant, jagged holes in the vaults and sending down blobs of molten metal and charred beams.
For thousands of Parisians watching in amazement from the banks of the Seine, and for millions of viewers around the world watching on television, the fall of the spire was the most shocking symbol of the fire’s destructive power. Now its reconstruction has become one of the most visible and powerful symbols of the cathedral’s rebirth.
“These people have taken on an incredible challenge,” Philippe Jost, head of the task force responsible for the reconstruction, told Macron at the spire, referring to workers at the site.
About 500 people are working on the construction site every day, including architects, engineers, masons, metalworkers, carpenters, steepleworkers and more. Hundreds of others have been involved in workshops across France, using both modern technology and ancient techniques square oak beams with an axe – to recreate parts that are transported to Paris.
Mr Macron had briefly floated the idea of a “contemporary architectural gesture” to replace the spire, a 19th-century Gothic design by French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc that had replaced the cathedral’s original, worn-out tower.
But that idea was abandoned and like the rest of the cathedral, the spire is being rebuilt as it was in 2019: a wooden framework covered with lead sheet, topped by a cross and a copper rooster that looks from its perch more than 300 meters above Paris . feet above the ground.
This week a new cross was raised above the top of the spire; A new rooster will soon follow, which still needs to be blessed according to Catholic tradition.
Still, Macron announced on Friday that authorities would organize a competition to replace six stained glass windows in the nave’s south side chapels with more modern ones.
The top of the newly erected spire will be visible to hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to come to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, but it will take longer to reinstall the sculptures that used to adorn the spire, said Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect responsible for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame.
How did he feel as completion drew closer? Fortunately, said Mr. Villeneuve. Any doubts? Never. Are there any concerns? A lot of. Has he slept well for the past four years? Not really.
“The schedule is tight,” Mr. Villeneuve said. “But we are on track.”
Completing the reconstruction on time would be a major point of pride for Macron, whose five-year timeline after the fire was seen as overly optimistic by some critics. Political opponents accused him of wanting to rush reconstruction in the context of the Olympic Games.
But rebuilding has proceeded at a rapid pace despite delays caused by Covid-19 lockdowns and concerns about toxic lead damage from the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but a definitive cause may never be determined. The leading theories among researchers are that the cause was the result of an electrical short circuit or a discarded cigarette.
Macron’s visit marked the end of what officials have called the second phase of reconstruction, after an initial phase that saw the cathedral stabilized. The work has so far cost about 700 million euros, or about $755 million. In the aftermath of the fire, almost €850 million in donations were raised.
The vaults have been rebuilt or consolidated, except for that at the cathedral crossing, which will be completed next year once the spire is in place. By next summer, workers are expected to install new roofing, electrical wiring and new roofing an advanced fire protection system — the old attic had no sprinklers or firewall.