France will give the world its first look at the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday, more than five years after the fire that destroyed the heritage monument’s interior and toppled its spire.
Eight days before the cathedral’s reopening on December 7, President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection, broadcast live on television, that provided the first official insight into what the 850-year-old building now looks like inside.
“Even more beautiful than before, in the renewed shine of the blond stones and the color of the chapels,” Macron said in a statement released to the media on the eve of the visit.
The “construction site of the century” was a “challenge that many considered insane,” the president added.
Notre Dame will welcome visitors and worshipers over the weekend of December 7 and 8 after a sometimes challenging restoration to return Paris’ great cathedral, which was severely damaged by the fire of April 19, 2019, to its former glory.
At the time, Macron set the ambitious goal of rebuilding Notre Dame within five years and making it “even more beautiful” than before, a goal that French authorities say has been achieved.
The French president hopes the opening of Notre Dame will be a big feather in his cap amid the current political impasse following snap parliamentary elections this summer.
World leaders are expected to join, but the guest list has yet to be revealed.
Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were mobilized for a restoration costing hundreds of millions of euros on what was called the “construction site of the century”.
All 2,000 people who contributed to the work have been invited to Friday’s event, with at least 1,300 expected to attend.
“This latest on-site visit is an opportunity to thank them in particular – from woodworkers to those of metal and stone, from scaffolders to roofers, from clockmakers to art restorers, from gilders to masons and sculptors, from carpenters to organ builders. from architects , archaeologists, engineers and planners to logistics and administrative positions,” Macron said ahead of the visit.
Accompanied by his wife Brigitte, Macron was expected from 10:30 am (09:30 GMT) to inspect key parts of the cathedral, including the nave, choir and chapel, and discuss the restoration in person with workers.
The restoration cost a total of almost 700 million euros (more than 750 million dollars at today’s rate).
It was funded by the €846 million in donations that poured in from 150 countries in an unprecedented wave of solidarity.
– Grand reopening expected –
The 19th century Gothic spire has now been brought back to life as an exact copy of the original, the stained glass windows have regained their color, the walls shine after the burn marks have been cleaned and a restored organ is ready to thunder out again .
Invisible to visitors is a new mechanism to protect against any future fires, a discreet system of pipes ready to release millions of water droplets in the event of a new disaster.
Notre Dame, which welcomed 12 million visitors in 2017, expects to receive an even higher figure of “14 to 15 million” after its reopening, church authorities said.
French ministers have also floated the idea of charging tourists an entrance fee to the site, but the Paris diocese has said free entry is an important principle to uphold.
Macron had hoped to speak at Notre Dame on the occasion of its reopening, but after negotiations with the diocese he would now only speak on the forecourt.
France is, according to its constitution, a secular country with a strict separation between church and state.
The next day, Sunday December 8, the first mass and the dedication of the new altar will take place.
Macron said in December 2023 that he had invited Pope Francis to the cathedral’s reopening, but the head of the Catholic Church announced in September, to the surprise of some observers, that he would not attend.
Instead, the Pope will make a historic visit to the French island of Corsica the following weekend.
The French Catholic Church has been rocked in recent years by a succession of sexual abuse allegations against clerics, including most recently the monk known as Abbe Pierre, who became a household name for providing aid to the needy.
More than five years later, the cause of the fire is still being investigated. Initial findings point to an accidental cause, such as a short circuit, a welding torch or a cigarette.
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