After long works financed exclusively by donations, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is preparing to reopen its doors. In total, nearly 700 million euros were raised. American donors were particularly generous, contributing nearly $62 million for the reconstruction of the building.
An old love story unites the United States and Notre-Dame de Paris. Moved by the fire which reduced the Gothic cathedral to ashes on April 15, 2019, Americans mobilized strongly to participate financially in its reconstruction. In total, they paid nearly 62 million dollars (59 million euros) for the reconstruction of the French building. “The Americans are the biggest donors, by far, after the French,” the president of “Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris” Michel Picaud told AFP.
Founded in 2017, the association has raised $57 million from 45,000 mainly American donors. “Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris” notably received donations from two American foundations, the Starr Foundation and the Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis Foundation, which each contributed several million dollars. The former director of the World Bank Bertrand Badré also indicated that he participated in the war effort, providing a “generous and immediate response”.
“One of the greatest treasures in the world,” according to Barack Obama
“For Americans, Notre-Dame de Paris is a physical symbol of pre-modern European history which does not exist on American soil,” Professor Meredith Cohen, specialist in art and culture, told AFP. medieval architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. It is a powerful place of memory, it evokes an imaginary nostalgia for a rich and complex culture of the past.
The day after the fire, US President Donald Trump proposed, in a controversial tweet, to send water bombers to save the building.
His predecessor Barack Obama also reacted, posting a photo of himself lighting a candle. “Notre-Dame is one of the greatest treasures in the world and we are thinking of the French people in this period of mourning,” he wrote on X as a caption.
An emotion shared by all Americans. “I am not French, I am not Catholic and yet, my heart suffers from your loss,” testified an American in the magazine La Fabrique de Notre-Dame, logbook of the restoration site.
Philosophers, artists, haute couture houses… Americans have great admiration for French culture, as evidenced by their cinematographic references, from the first black and white films such as the silent film “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” in 1923, until the Walt Disney cartoon in 1996. Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral appears in numerous Hollywood productions: “An American in Paris”, “Charade”, “Midnight in Paris”, or even “ Ratatouille” from Pixar Studios. Eager to return the favor to a building which had earned it great success in its “Hunchback of Notre Dame”, the Walt Disney Company had also wished to make a donation of 5 million dollars to the cathedral.
A jewel of French Gothic art, Notre-Dame Cathedral evokes the city of Paris and more broadly embodies French culture for Americans and the entire world. Germany, China and even Russia… Many foreign countries have also mobilized to resurrect the French structure. After five years of a restoration project estimated at 700 million euros financed by donations, the old lady will reopen its doors on December 7 and 8.
