Ajit Karn
Paris: The spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral will be restored by year’s end, but a full restoration following the disastrous fire of 2019 won’t take place until the Paris Olympic Games.
The culture ministry informed AFP that the reconstruction is still on schedule to be finished by the end of 2024.
A spokeswoman stated that “the site is progressing at a good rate.”
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The authorities have already stated that the Immaculate Conception Feast on December 8 is a potential deadline.
This implies that the 12th-century cathedral, which once saw some 12 million visits a year, will be unable to accommodate guests for the Olympic Games that Paris will be holding in July and August of 2024.
The ministry stated that the pointed spire, which was built by architect Eugene Viollet-Le-Duc during the cathedral’s reconstruction in the 19th century to replace an earlier wooden spire that had become damaged, will be put back in place by the end of 2023.
One of the most dramatic incidents of the fire on April 15, 2019, was the collapse of the wooden spire.
The same original components—500 tonnes of oak wood for the structure and 250 tonnes of lead for the ornaments—were used to create an exact replica.
Lead from the fire’s rubble and its use in the reconstruction have raised health worries, and French officials have had to persuade their European counterparts that proper safety measures have been followed.
This week, scaffolding was set up and specially-cut base stones were brought along the Seine in the first phase of preparation work to begin reinstalling the spire.
The spire will be 100 metres high when finished.
The 42,000 m2 of the cathedral’s interior walls that required laborious cleaning, as well as the restoration of paintings, ironwork, joinery, stained glass, and sculptures that withstood the fire, have all been finished.
In front of the main facade, a temporary hangar has been constructed so that the statues can be repaired and replaced.
A winning design for the interior is currently being explored, and it will be chosen this summer.
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The choice to incorporate contemporary art among the artefacts on display in the cathedral last year sparked debate.
Recently, Laurent Ulrich, the archbishop of Paris, stated that he desired “an educational and spiritual journey… not the equivalent of a museum.”
