Notre-Dame de Paris will reveal to the world on Friday its “brilliance” regained five years after the devastating fire of April 2019, thanks to a final site visit by Emmanuel Macron eight days before its reopening with great fanfare.
While waiting for the now imminent return of the public, it is through a stroll by the Head of State, broadcast live in the morning on several French and international channels, that the restored cathedral, or even partly rebuilt, will be visible for the first time.
“Even more beautiful than before, in the renewed brilliance of the blondness of the stones and the color of the chapels,” wrote the president in a document distributed to the media.
The work has in fact 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 those around it.
So far, only unauthenticated images have circulated on X, reposted by billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social network and close to President-elect of the United States Donald Trump.
The Élysée, in presenting this visit to the press, did not skimp on superlatives, using the word “brilliance” no less than twenty times.
“Wonder”, “striking” view, “fireworks of colours”: presidential advisers promised a breathtaking spectacle, and a striking contrast to the “yawning vault”, the “charred waste” and the 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 Gothic art from the 12th 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.
– 1,300 contributors present –
Broadcast around the world, the fire, the causes of which have still not been determined, caused a wave of global emotion. And the President of the Republic had committed to reopening in five years, arousing a certain skepticism at the time.
Those around him emphasize today that “the impossible has been made possible”.
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 site .
At each stop, Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife and the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich, will speak with some of the people who worked to resurrect Notre-Dame. Among them, the Belgian architect and landscaper Bas Smets, who designed the new square, Guillaume Bardet, the designer who created the new liturgical furniture, Jean-Louis Bidet, one of the carpenters, Marie Pouliot and Marie Parant, painting restorers mural, or Pascal Prunet, chief architect of historic monuments.
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 in particular, 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 some 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations.
The president will deliver a short speech in the cathedral, during which he should extol “French know-how”, a “collective success”, a “chapter of which we can be proud”.
The public will still have to wait a good week to access the cathedral: on December 7, the Head of State will speak again, this time on the square, before a liturgical ceremony inside for the official reopening, a prelude at the inaugural mass celebrated on December 8.
Many foreign leaders have been invited to the reopening, but the list of those who will attend has not yet been communicated.
