Two years to the day after the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic, will visit the cathedral reconstruction site on Thursday April 15, announced the Elysee on Tuesday.
It will be his first return to the scene since the tragedy.
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“
This visit will be an opportunity for the Head of State to thank once again all those who helped save the cathedral from the flames, all those who are working on its reconstruction (carpenters, scaffolders, rope access technicians, crane operators, organ builders , master glassmakers, painting and sculpture restorers, stonemasons, archaeologists and researchers), as well as the 340,000 donors from around the world who make this project possible
”, specifies the presidency.
Shortly after the destruction of the roof and the spire by the flames on April 15, 2019, President Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to rebuild it in five years.
A year later, in a video message, he renewed this promise despite the interruption of the construction site during the first confinement.
That day, the big “
Emmanuel
”
drone
from the South Tower had sounded at 8:00 p.m., as a symbol of resilience.
The Head of State will visit the upper floors of Notre-Dame and the vaults of the choir on Thursday, April 15, before meeting the teams mobilized on the security phase, an essential prerequisite for the reconstruction of the cathedral identically.
He will be accompanied by the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, special representative for reconstruction, Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of historical monuments, Mgr Michel Aupetit, archbishop of Paris, of Mgr Eric Aumonier, representing the diocese of Paris, and of the rector of the cathedral Mgr Patrick Chauvet.
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But the site will probably not be completed in five years.
On the other hand, the monument must be returned to worship by April 15, 2024, the day when a first mass will be celebrated again in the nave.
Some 833 million euros were collected for this restoration thanks to a national and international fundraising.