The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a major fire, should have its roof turret back by the Summer Olympics. The almost 100 meter high crossing tower, which fell from the roof while burning in 2019, was rebuilt true to the original. “The dismantling of the scaffolding has begun and the roof turret will rise again into the Paris sky by the time of the Olympic Games,” the authority responsible for reconstruction announced on Tuesday.
Like the original from the 19th century, the tower was built from oak beams and coated with lead. The slim tip can already be seen again. At the end of last year, the tower was decorated with a metal cross and a metal rooster. The Paris cathedral, considered an early Gothic masterpiece, is scheduled to reopen on December 8th.
After the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to have the church rebuilt within five years – which he will probably achieve given the year. However, the anniversary of the fire is April 15th. Macron sees the restoration of the cathedral as a symbol of France’s charisma.
Watch the video: Eyewitness footage – here the spire of Notre-Dame collapses.
The church interior is now much brighter and more colorful than before, as the walls, chapels and stained glass windows have been extensively cleaned and restored. At the request of Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, some chapels are to be equipped with contemporary stained glass windows. Since the cathedral, like all churches built before 1905, is owned by the French state, the Catholic Church had little say in the restoration.
In the future, a museum on the history of the cathedral will be set up on the site of a historic hospital. This should also help to manage the flow of visitors. Before the fire, an average of twelve million people visited the cathedral each year.
