Notre Dame reopens, brighter than ever
When Notre Dame Cathedral burned in 2019, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, made what seemed like an impossible promise. The cathedral would be rebuilt. Notre Dame would come back.
The cathedral’s spire had fallen, its wooden roof had collapsed, and it was unclear whether the structure could even remain standing. France, Catholics, visitors, and sympathizers around the world were in shock. In those days after the fire, it seemed that the world had lost a cultural and religious symbol of France that had stood for over 850 years.
What would happen to it? Macron left no doubt about his intentions. He said, “We will rebuild Notre Dame, because that is what the French people want. That is what our history deserves.”
He kept his promise. Less than six years later, on December 8, 2024, Notre Dame was again in the world’s spotlight, when Macron and other world leaders attended the first public mass at the rebuilt cathedral.
It was a huge project. From the beginning, lead architect Philippe Villeneuve emphasized that this was a restoration project, not a renovation. They would preserve Notre Dame’s history, while preparing it for the future. They combined modern tools like 3-D laser scans with ancient building techniques like stone carving.
An important question was what to do about the spire. The original spire suffered weather damage and had to be dismantled in the late 18th century. It was replaced with a neo-Gothic style spire in 1859. Some advocated for a new design for the future, but the architects decided to reproduce the spire exactly as it was from 1859 to 2019.
Next, the exterior. The cathedral is made of limestone, which remained intact after the fire. But parts of it were damaged, so engineers had to test every section and replace certain stones. Replacement stones were sourced from quarries in northern France to precisely match the originals. The entire exterior was cleaned; the soot and centuries of dirt that had accumulated were removed.
The original roof had been made of timber; its nickname was “the forest” because of how many trees were used in its construction. The roof was rebuilt from 1,200 specially selected oak trees from across France. These trees were hand-cut and shaped with axes to replicate 13th-century techniques.
The cathedral’s famous stained-glass windows survived the fire. But the windows were removed and cleaned. During the restoration, they were stored off-site. The interior was badly damaged; the walls and ceilings got a thorough cleaning to reveal the colors of the painted surfaces and decorations. A new state-of-the-art lighting system was installed, which will allow visitors in the future to appreciate the cathedral’s full beauty.
Notre Dame has a massive pipe organ, with five keyboards and 8,000 metal and wooden pipes. The organ survived, but the pipes were covered in toxic lead dust. Each pipe was painstakingly removed, cleaned, and reinstalled, a process that took three years.
During renovation, the windows, religious relics, and additional artifacts were stored at the Louvre museum and in other secure conservation studios in France, to protect them from the weather and from damage during the renovation. This also allowed scholars to study parts of the cathedral that had never been examined up close before.
The restoration also included safety upgrades. The wood beams used in the roof were treated with fire-resistant chemicals. Thermal imaging cameras and a comprehensive building monitoring system can detect threats early. And a water mist system was installed to suppress any future outbreak of fire without causing extensive water damage.
This was an expensive project. The French government is the owner of the cathedral, and contributed to the cost, mostly in planning and administration. But the money for the restoration largely came from private donors. The project received about €800 million in donations. Prominent French families, including those behind luxury firms, donated, as did large companies around the world. But the striking thing was the breadth of support. About 340,000 donors from 150 countries contributed to the restoration.
There is still some work to be done on the exterior and the windows, so work will continue through 2025. You can visit, but beware: there will be crowds. Visiting is free, but you do have to register online for a timed entry. The main areas of the cathedral will be open, but some parts, including the towers, will be off-limits in the near future.
Regular masses have resumed, with five to six services per day.
Jeff’s take
There is bad news in the world. Things, in many ways, and in many places, are not going well. Big promises are not kept. Our leaders disappoint us.
And then sometimes there is just great news. And this is one of those things.
I saw a video of the cathedral. It is bright, it is beautiful, it is shiny. It is a triumph for France. In the “Dig Deeper” section, I’ll put a link to a video that shows Notre Dame in all its restored beauty.
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