“It’s huge”: One year after the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron this morning visited the construction site of the cathedral icon in France, and climbed to the top of the tower at a height of one hundred meters, with stunning views of Paris. One year after the reopening, the French President invited Pope Francis to attend the ceremony for that occasion.
The stunning images of the presidential visit, filmed using drones, were broadcast live on the Elysée Palace’s X profile. At the top of the tower, the cross that collapsed during the fire on April 15, 2019 has been reassembled (and blessed) in recent days: only the missing historic rooster will be restored later.
Macron thanked the hundreds of people at work, including workers, craftsmen and restorers who have been working for nearly five years to revive Notre Dame. “Thank you very much,” shouted the president, wearing a white worker’s helmet, from the top of the “Europa Echafawdge” (“Europe scaffolding”) scaffolding that still encases the tower structure envisioned by the 19th-century architect. Eugene Viollet.le Duc.
More than four years after the fire, the masterpiece of Gothic art is gradually regaining its beauty thanks to an army of workers, craftsmen and restorers – including Italians – who worked despite thousands of restrictions and difficulties to clean and restore it. Before the fire, the cathedral, one of the most symbolic places in Europe, received 12 million visitors, 2,400 religious masses and 150 concerts annually. The shipyard can count on an unprecedented wave of solidarity, with donations from around the world reaching €844 million. Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen at the end of 2024, ideally on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
video Notre Dame, working on the construction site one year after its reopening
Macron announces a stained glass competition
During a visit today to the construction site of Notre-Dame de Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to create contemporary stained glass windows to leave a “21st century” mark on the Parisian cathedral destroyed by the April 15 fire. 2019 It is scheduled to reopen exactly one year later, on December 8, 2024. “We respect the era,” rejoiced the French president, who after the fire committed to rebuilding this Gothic masterpiece within five years. “It is a tremendous image of hope and of France that knows how to rebuild,” the president continued during his visit to the Notre Dame construction site, speaking of an “important and poignant moment” that shows the “extraordinary progress” of this project. “A construction site that seemed impossible.” After the astonishing visit to the 96-meter-high tower in the Paris sky, the president descended with a worker’s helmet into the central courtyard, accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, to speak to the press. Laurent Ulrich of Paris had recently hoped that the state would commission “a series of six stained glass windows for the south side chapels of the nave.” “I fully support it – Macron declared -. With my full approval, we will launch a competition to allow contemporary artists to submit a symbolic work for Notre Dame, on the basis of a specific commission,” Macron announced. Our Century will thus find its place “among many other works that appear among the works of the cathedral.” Macron pointed out that the old stained-glass windows dating back to the nineteenth century, as well as the rooster that fell when the tower collapsed during “will find their place in the Notre Dame Factory Museum,” which will be opened in the spaces near the Hotel Dieu.
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