“The shock of reopening”scheduled with great fanfare for the weekend of December 7 and 8, 2024, will be “as strong as that of the fire, but it will be a shock of hope”launched the Head of State after a stroll broadcast live on several French and international channels, Friday November 29.
During a speech in the cathedral, he thanked the 2,000 contributors to the “construction site of the century”some 1,300 of whom were present, according to the Élysée, and applauded warmly in return.
Emmanuel Macron was full of superlatives in front of the delegation of elected officials, workers and patrons.
© (AFP Photo)
The memory of General Jean-Louis Georgelin
“You were the alchemists of the construction site and you transformed coal into art”dared the president. “The Notre-Dame blaze was a national wound and you were its remedy through will, through work, through commitment […] Vou achieved what we thought was impossible”he added, recalling those who had judged « fou » or ” arbitrary “ the deadline set for reconstruction.
With emotion in his voice, he saluted the memory of General Jean-Louis Georgelin, responsible for the restoration who died in 2023.
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 must speak again, this time on the square, on December 7. He has also 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 a week later rather than in Paris.
The altar of Notre-Dame.
© (AFP Photo)
“You showed the world that nothing resists audacity”, “it is an immense source of pride for the entire Nation”he said to wood, metal and stone craftsmen, scaffolders and roofers, campanists, gilders, sculptors and even architects. Patrons were also in the spotlight, while the construction project of the century, which cost some 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations.
In this “unprecedented construction site”, “there was a unique spirit of fraternity”he further underlined. Before adding, as a new political crisis threatens: “I want it to remain, to continue. »
The Baptistery of Notre-Dame.
© (AFP Photo)
With a route in around ten stations, from the square to the framework, including the nave, the transept crossing and the Saint-Marcel chapel, the visit was designed to show the main achievements of this titanic project. Quite a symbol, the stop at the base of the spire, reconstructed identically to that of Viollet-le-Duc which collapsed on April 15, 2019 on mondovision, raising a wave of global emotion.
