Arrow structure visible ‘before Christmas’

The tower, identical to the previous one, designed by 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc, which collapsed in the fire, will remain surrounded by scaffolding.

Agence France-Presse learned on Friday (November 17) from the public institution responsible for supervising the site of the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral that the “familiar silhouette” of the Notre Dame tower, destroyed by a fire in 2019, will be visible in the sky of Paris “before Christmas.”

“The construction site is going well.”

The same source said: “The construction site is progressing well, and the tower’s solid oak frame will be completed in December. Its familiar silhouette should once again peak at 96 meters above the ground before Christmas.”

The tower, identical to the previous one, designed by 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc, which collapsed in an April 15, 2019, fire, will remain surrounded by the scaffolding that was used to build that structure. “It will be used to install its cover and lead decorations in 2024,” the foundation added.

Meanwhile, “the assembly of the frames of the nave and choir of the cathedral – which also collapsed in the fire – will be completed at the beginning of 2024, the date when the installation of their roofs could also begin.” “.

Cleaning inside the building is “completed.”

The source added that on the interior restoration side, “the simultaneous cleaning of the walls, painted decorations, and basements (with a total area of ​​42,000 square meters) has been completed, and the scaffolding is gradually being dismantled.”

“During the last quarter of 2024,” once “the installation of the technical networks in the ground” and the final interior renovations have been completed, the cathedral will be ready to receive its new liturgical furniture in dark brown bronze, sober and monumental. In addition to 1,500 chairs with an openwork design made of solid oak.

The cathedral is still scheduled to reopen on December 8, 2024, after the Paris Olympics in the summer, Emmanuel Macron confirmed during the national honors presented at the end of August to General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who managed the construction site. He died accidentally this summer. It was his right-hand man, senior civil servant Philip Jost, who succeeded him.

A masterpiece of Gothic art admired around the world, Notre-Dame de Paris received an average of 12 million visitors each year before the fire, 2,500 services and 150 concerts.