Notre-Dame de Paris reveals its new face

The weekend of December 7 and 8, Notre-Dame de Paris will see the return of the public. A big week before this reopening with great fanfare, this Friday, it is through a stroll by President Emmanuel Macron, broadcast live on television in the morning, that the rebuilt cathedral will be visible. The head of state intends to boast of having met his “insane challenge” of reopening in five years, after the terrible fire of April 2019.

“Even more beautiful than before, in the rediscovered brilliance of the blondness of the stones and the color of the chapels,” wrote the president in a document distributed to the media. This “project of the century” constituted a “challenge that many considered insane and that we will meet this December 7,” he adds.

In a bad position politically, Emmanuel Macron is betting a lot on this meeting, which he elevated to the rank of “French pride” with the successful Olympic Games last summer. He has invited a large number of foreign leaders next weekend, in the hope of making it a global event, but the list of those present is not yet known and Pope Francis has preferred to go to Corsica a week later rather than in Paris.

The president for a time hoped to speak in the cathedral during the reopening, but after tough negotiations with the diocese, he will speak in the square only. It is therefore this Friday that he will speak in Notre-Dame, for a speech of thanks during which he should exalt “French know-how”, a “collective success”, a “chapter of which we can be proud”.

All 2,000 people who contributed to the work have been invited, of whom at least 1,300 should be present. “This final site visit is an opportunity to thank them more particularly, from wood craftsmen to metal and stone craftsmen, from scaffolders to roofers, from campanists to art restorers, from gilders to masons and sculptors, from carpenters to organ builders, architects, archaeologists, engineers and planners to logistical or administrative functions,” said Emmanuel Macron.

Patrons will also be in the spotlight, while the construction project of the century, which cost nearly 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations. The work made it possible to clean the dirt accumulated over the decades and the “immaculate whiteness” of the Catholic building looks dazzling “like never before”, according to the presidential entourage.

“The president’s advisors hope that he will relaunch with Notre-Dame”, but “he will only draw political capital from it in the long term”, says a close friend of Emmanuel Macron. “Wonder”, “striking” view, “fireworks of colors”: presidential advisers promised a breathtaking spectacle and a stark contrast to the “yawning vault”, “charred waste” and “smell”. unbearable” that Emmanuel Macron discovered on the evening of the fire, April 15, 2019.

The flames had notably ravaged the roof and the frame of this masterpiece of 12th century Gothic art.^e century, which is among the most visited monuments in Europe. The spire of Viollet-le-Duc, which collapsed from a height of 93 meters, was reconstructed identically.

Broadcast around the world, the fire, the causes of which have still not been determined, caused a wave of global emotion. In a journey of around ten stages, from the square to the framework via the nave, the crossing of the transept or even the Saint-Marcel chapel, the visit has been designed to show the main achievements of this titanic project.