Eight days before the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, Emmanuel Macron is giving a final site visit in ten stages of the restored cathedral on Friday, broadcast live on television.
Following in the footsteps of the President of the Republic, the world will discover the first images of the new Notre-Dame, more than five years after the fire which devastated it in April 2019.
This “wandering”according to the term of the Elysée, must start around 10:30 a.m. and last two hours. The first stage will take place outside, on the square and its just finished limestone paving. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the architect who designed the square, Bas Smets, will be present.
For the second stage, Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte, the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich and the head of restoration, Philippe Jost, will enter the cathedral.
The opportunity for a first overview of the interior described as striking, with the cleaned blond stone becoming resplendent again and a perspective on the golden cross enthroned at the back of the building.
Third stage: the transept crossing, to discover the stone vaults restored with the same methods and materials as in the 13th century.
During these stages, Emmanuel Macron will listen to explanations from Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of historic monuments, and Henry de Reviers, masonry and stone cutting craftsman.
He will pass in front of the new bronze liturgical furniture – including the altar -, designed by designer Guillaume Bardet, and in front of the statue of the Virgin on the Pillar, miraculously saved from the 2019 fire.
Fire misting
The fourth and fifth stages provide for an ascent to the heavens or almost, with the discovery of the framework, first that of the choir then that at the level of the spire. The forest, that is to say the wooden frames which dated from the Middle Ages, disappeared in the flames and was rebuilt in solid oak.
The passage through the framework will be an opportunity to discuss the new fire safety system, which benefits from technological innovations.
It is therefore equipped with a water misting system which, in the event of a fire, diffuses a mist of fine droplets to smother it.
After the ascent, return to earth for the sixth stage, where visitors will descend to the northern slope of the choir to admire the murals.
The same goes for the seventh stage in the Saint-Marcel chapel. Freed from the dirt that masked them, its newfound colors promise, according to the site managers, a “Sistine Chapel effect” and a “fireworks” visual.
During the eighth and ninth stages, visitors will discover the reliquary with the precious crown of thorns, saved during the fire, then the statues which form the Vow of Louis XIII.
Finally, the tenth and final stage will be devoted to the Grand Organ of Notre-Dame, which we will see but which we will only hear when it reopens on December 7.
The largest organ in France, it includes 8,000 pipes, some of which are the size of a ballpoint pen and others measuring more than 10 meters high.
