One year to the day after the fire that ravaged Notre Dame de Paris and sparked worldwide excitement, Emmanuel Macron published a thank you message for all those who saved and then worked to rebuild the cathedral. The tempo is delicate to tackle any subject other than the health crisis which, recognizes Emmanuel Macron, "monopolizes our thoughts and our lives" .
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But the cathedral also had its "heroes", whom the president wanted to salute. "We do not forget anything: neither the heroic surge of courage that saved the cathedral from the flames, nor the tremendous wave of generosity" that arose in the days and weeks that followed, he said. Soldiers of the fire, police, employees of the diocese, companions, architects ... all deserve, as such, "recognition of the nation" , says Emmanuel Macron.
According to the president, and while the building site is again at a standstill, "the time for reconstruction has begun" for the cathedral. "We will do everything to meet the five-year deadline," he insists, "the wait-and-see attitude is not a response to the challenge of the times . "
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Better still, the restoration of Notre-Dame will be “the symbol of the resilience of our people and of their capacity to overcome hardships and to recover”, he affirms, in a lyrical tone already used since the health crisis.
Read also: One year after the Notre-Dame fire, the impossible commemoration in the time of the coronavirus
The site has been dormant since March 16 so as not to run any risks for workers and companions mobilized on the site. The restoration itself has not yet started, the cathedral being still in " absolute emergency " phase a year after the fire which started on April 15, 2019.
" If the restoration of Notre-Dame is important to us all, it is undoubtedly also, because it is a symbol of the resilience of our people, of their capacity to overcome hardships, and to recover ", adds he.
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The big drone “ Emmanuel ” from the south tower of Notre-Dame de Paris will ring at 8 p.m. Wednesday to commemorate the start of the fire. This will be the only event planned on the site.