Notre-Dame de Paris unveiled to the world this Friday its “glow“found five years after the devastating fire of April 2019, thanks to a final site visit by Emmanuel Macron who intends to pride himself on having kept his”insane challenge” of a reopening in five years.
“It’s sublime“, exclaimed the French head of state upon discovering the reconstructed cathedral in all its whiteness and length, during a stroll broadcast live on several French channels. “She is much more hospitable with this blonde stone“, cleaned of the dirt accumulated over the decades, he added, assuring the speakers that they could “be proud“.
A big week before the reopening with great fanfare and the return of the public, the weekend of December 7 and 8, the president writes, in a document distributed to the media this week, that this “construction site of the century“constituted a”challenge that many considered senseless and that we will take“.
In a bad position politically, Emmanuel Macron is betting a lot on this meeting, which he has elevated to the rank of “French pride” with last summer’s successful Olympic Games.
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 preferred to go to Corsica for a week later rather than in Paris.
“The president’s advisers hope he revives with Notre-Dame“, more “he will only gain political capital from it in the long term“, breathes someone close to Emmanuel Macron.
1,300 contributors present
The latter 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 was therefore this Friday that the French president spoke in Notre-Dame.
All 2,000 people who contributed to the work were invited, more than 1,300 of whom were present, wood, metal and stone craftsmen, scaffolders and roofers, campanists, gilders, sculptors and even architects. Patrons are also in the spotlight, while the construction project of the century, which cost some 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations.
The Élysée, in presenting this visit, did not skimp on superlatives, using the word “” no less than twenty timesglow“. “Wonder“, vue “gripping“, “fireworks of colors“: Presidential advisers have promised a breathtaking spectacle, and a stark contrast to the “gaping vault“, THE “calcined waste“and the smell”intolerable” that Emmanuel Macron had discovered on the evening of the fire.
“You see the cathedral like you’ve never seen it before“, “five years after the vision of desolation“, said Philippe Jost, the catering manager, during the visit. “I remember as if it were yesterday the Pietà which alone emerged“debris,” replied the president, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron and the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich.
The flames, the causes of which have still not been determined, had notably ravaged the roof and the framework of this masterpiece of Gothic art from the 12th century, which is among the most visited monuments in Europe.
Notre-Dame de Paris paris France macron church fire Notre-Dame fire
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