With the cathedral reopening to the public scheduled for this Sunday, December 8, the cause of the catastrophic fire that devastated the monument on April 15, 2019 remains, to this day, a mystery, although investigators believe it was accidental.
Respectfully hidden behind siding, barbed wire and scaffolding, “Our Lady of Paris” has been under reconstruction.
Five years after the flames that devastated the cathedral and captured the world’s attention, Notre Dame is finally back.
“It’s a true miracle. Even for us, who are often in the cathedral, it never fails to impress – it gets more beautiful every day,” said Philippe Jost, responsible for Notre Dame’s reconstruction effort, in November.
“There’s a Sistine Chapel-like effect,” he said of returning to this historic landmark, with something new to see and discover with every glance.
With the cathedral reopening to the public scheduled for this Sunday, December 8, the cause of the catastrophic fire that devastated the monument on April 15, 2019 remains, to this day, a mystery, although investigators believe it was accidental.
Fire in Notre-Dame, Paris (Fabien Barrau/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Regardless, the numbers behind the reconstruction efforts are impressive. Restoring the iconic historical monument to its original state cost approximately 700 million euros, according to Rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris, the public body led by Philippe Jost and responsible for the work. In total, €846 million in donations were raised from 340,000 donors from 150 countries, with the additional funds to be used to restore other monuments.
Then there are the materials used in its reconstruction: the tallest oak felled was 27 meters high, 1,300 cubic meters of stone were replaced, 8000 organ pipes (belonging to the largest instrument in France) were cleaned and tuned, and 1500 were cut. solid oak benches – all this work was carried out by 2,000 dedicated craftsmen.
The result of your work is even more impressive.
From darkness to light
A few steps below the cascading statues of the cathedral’s magnificent facade, darkness gives way to light.
The bare columns of the cathedral rise to the ceiling; the walls, stripped of centuries of dust and dirt, look brand new.
The cost of the fire wasn’t just financial—careful cleaning and restoration robbed it of some of the dark, mystical atmosphere that visitors will remember. But those responsible hope this will ensure the health of the building for centuries to come.
Notre Dame’s nave was transformed after the inferno of flames. Before any work was done, it was necessary to secure the building to prevent damaged parts from collapsing and to support the ship’s 28 flying buttresses. Sarah Meyssonnier/AP
French President Emmanuel Macron set an ambitious goal for reconstruction five years ago and, with his visit on November 29, he returned to thank the hundreds of people who fought the flames and helped with the restoration work.
For much of the previous 2,055 days, the site was a veritable hub of work, with crews cleaning marble mosaics, touching up frescoes and climbing the immense hive of scaffolding that filled the center of the monument.
CNN crews have visited Notre Dame several times since the fire, even as work continued during COVID-19 restrictions in France.
For CNN cameraman Mark Esplin, there was a more striking change. He remembers how there was still a “huge hole in the ceiling” when he was granted permission to visit the site in 2019, adding: “You could see all the way to the sky.”
Like many in 2019, a CNN team watched in horror, just meters away, as the cathedral’s dome was engulfed in flames before collapsing. At the end of the afternoon, they heard hundreds of people gathered around the monument raise their voices in song.
“I remember the smell… Mark and I got so close that my coat smelled like smoke for days,” recalls producer Saskya Vandoorne.
Today, the octagonal base of the 96-meter dome – almost identical to the one designed in the 19th century by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc – fills the void in the ceiling. Viewed by many as a symbol of strength and dedication to reconstruction efforts, the wooden dome finally freed itself from scaffolding and rejoined the Paris skyline early last year.
A worker installs a clapper on one of the eight restored bells in the cathedral’s north tower, September 12. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Hearing the bells ring last month, for the first time since the fire, was another major milestone.
The eight restored bells of the cathedral’s steeple, partially destroyed in the fire, rang in early November as part of a technical test ahead of Notre Dame’s reopening weekend – this Saturday for world elites and other guests, Sunday for the public .
Also in November, some Parisians hailed as “miraculous” the return of the nearly life-size statue of the Virgin Mary to Notre Dame. Considered the symbolic heart of the cathedral, it was, in a way, spared in the fire.
His return last month – during a nighttime procession attended by hundreds of people – was yet another sign of the deep emotion that this recovery awakened in the hearts of so many in France.
For Monseigneur Patrick Chauvet, who was rector of Notre Dame de Paris at the time of the fire, the memories still remain fresh.
“It was an apocalyptic sight, the cathedral was turned inside out,” he said of his first look inside Notre Dame after the fire.
“I haven’t fully recovered yet; It is engraved in the depths of my being.”
Workers protect the statue of the Virgin Mary, which has become a symbol of resilience because it was not hit during the 2019 fire, before its return to Notre Dame on November 15. Louise Delmotte/AP
A work of passion
On the night of the fire, with the air still filled with smoke, Macron made a solemn promise.
“We will rebuild Notre Dame. Because that is what the French expect and because that is what our history deserves”, he promised in front of the ruins of the cathedral.
It was then that he set an audacious deadline of five years for its reconstruction, which, for many, seemed an impossible task.
Few, other than those directly involved, were allowed to see how skilled workers and artisans replicated the techniques and materials of the cathedral’s original construction.
But for those about to visit Notre Dame, this unlikely victory is even better when you look up.
The roof is a truss of about 1,200 oak logs — the “forest,” as the workers call it — felled in an ancient real forest, just like the beams that supported the original roof.
Harvested in western France and transformed into imposing structures in the northeast of the country, the oaks for Notre Dame’s new roof were taken to Paris along the River Seine.
Notre Dame’s oak structures and roof were rebuilt to look exactly like the originals, according to Rebuild Notre Dame. AP Photo
At the top is the dome, now with a golden phoenix on its top, symbolically replacing the rooster that was found among the rubble of the fire.
Surprisingly, most of the cathedral’s original beams dated from before 1226, with the oldest coming from a tree felled in 1156.
Even today, the country has the world’s largest reserve of mature oak trees, providing a unique advantage for reconstruction efforts. Three of the oaks used in the restoration were 230 years old, according to the French National Forest Service.
Carpenters, with the “savoir-faire” necessary to shape trees into medieval-style structures, were recruited in France and the rest of the world, a strategy similar to that adopted for all the highly specific skills required for restoration: bricklayers, metalworkers , organ builders and other specialists.
These artisans, working in collaboration with larger companies, were able to reuse ancient construction practices on a large scale, rather than resorting to modern, faster and more economical construction techniques.
For the man responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of the cathedral, the use of these traditional methods was fundamental. “It’s authenticity, it’s the care to respect the monument,” Jost told CNN. “We use the same materials, oak and stone, and the same techniques.”
A treasure to rediscover
Stripped of its usual trappings – the pews, chant books and candles of daily worship, the tourists of our time and the pilgrims of centuries past – Paris’ precious cathedral was never the same.
But despite the undignified restoration process – the noise, the plastic sheets and the metal bars – the greatness of Notre Dame is undeniable.
Perhaps the most recognizable elements of Notre Dame are its famous stained glass windows – true masterpieces of French Gothic art – and, in particular, the three rose windows located on the north, south and west facades.
Although the stained glass windows remarkably survived the fire, meticulous restoration was required to repair the damage caused by smoke and lead, as well as extensive cleaning after decades of exposure to the elements and wear.
Years of dirt have been removed, restoring the vibrant colors so that once again, intense reds and lapis lazuli blues flood the interior of the cathedral as daylight shines through the windows.
In the days, months and years to come, Notre Dame – considered one of the greatest examples of French Gothic architecture – will once again take its place in Paris’s cultural pantheon.
Many will be looking forward to their first visit to this newly restored landmark. And the vibrant colors of the famous stained glass windows will certainly be proof that Notre Dame – scarred and wounded, but renewed – is still alive.
