Emmanuel Macron invested a lot and communicated a lot about the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris. The president intended to create an event for its reopening, but the Church said no.
This Friday, November 29, the Head of State is giving himself a great moment to breathe: he visits the site of Notre-Dame de Paris, while its reopening to the public is scheduled for December 7. 5 years after the roof fire, Emmanuel Macron can be satisfied with the feat accomplished by some 2,000 craftsmen and the mobilization of thousands of private, public, foundations and state services to restore the great cathedral French.
It must be said that for Emmanuel Macron, this project is also his. And he did not hesitate to make this known to the Ministry of Culture, but also to the French clergy when it was necessary to make important decisions on the renovation. According to information from Le Point, in fact, the president was not afraid to establish a muscular dialogue with the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Laurent Ulrich. The head of state also had a plan for the reopening of the church, proposing to the bishop “to welcome the prelate inside the building to give him the keys in front of the cameras”, before to begin a sententious speech in the heart of Notre-Dame on the morning of December 7.
A proposal considered presumptuous which did not take into account the “ancestral tradition according to which the archbishop, master of “his” cathedral, strikes the closed door of the building three times with his crozier and enters it alone, first, to ” make “the moment” sacred.
The discussions were obviously very long, but Mgr Laurent Ulrich did not satisfy the president, remaining rigorously firm on his positions: “We are within our walls by entering through the door that I open”, he said. confided to the newspaper. His determination allowed him to prevail in this confrontation, by prohibiting Emmanuel Macron from implementing what he had planned. To his great chagrin, the Head of State will be content with the square to speak during the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris, Saturday December 7.
Emmanuel Macron attached to Notre-Dame
As the former Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak told the newspaper Le Point, the reconstruction of the cathedral was a good opportunity for the head ofState of restoring his image: “He was passionate about the site, following all the stages, he asked to see the images, the models, even the artistic proposals for the liturgical furniture and the chairs, but without interfering in the choices. Especially since with the Covid this project has transformed for him, even more than at its beginnings, into a symbol of our capacities for resilience as a nation.
However, before the fire, Emmanuel Macron had never responded to the monument's calls for help. For good reason, in 2018, the cathedral desperately needed donations in order to restore its legendary spire. At power since more than a year, the head ofÉtat had never taken the trouble to visit it, even if only on a whim.
It was only once buried under the flames that she regained her interest in the eyes of the president. On the day of the incident, and according to the account given by the newspaper Le Point, he appeared solemn, with a closed face, already planning a future reconstruction: “We will rebuild this cathedral, all together”, he had promised. His ambition appeared excessive. By setting a five-year reconstruction target, he was the target of strong criticism. Some accused him of maintaining unrealizable pretensions, due to current economic circumstances.Eric Fischer, director of the Œuvre Notre-Dame Foundation, which required decades of restoration.
