Gone are the procrastination around the reconstruction of the cathedral by 2024?
While General Georgelin had sown doubt by asserting that a restoration in five years was a "
complicated and tense
" objective, the President of the Republic hammered home, Monday, in front of Notre-Dame de Paris, that he did not regret for having set this course on the evening of the fire.
"It's good to fix because hope must be at hand, and we could not say: you are going to take it for 10 or 15 years",
he explained from a high platform of 26 meters overlooking the illuminated apse of the cathedral.
"By setting a goal, by doing things in the right order, we move forward and we will achieve the goal, by doing well and beautiful"
.
"Rebuilding in the face of adversity"
Emmanuel Macron had invited the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, on an official visit to Paris, for this short interview on the site.
What could be better than the works of Notre-Dame de Paris to show a foreign guest the
“willingness of France to rebuild in the face of adversity”
?
For reasons of simplicity – entering the cathedral requires putting on an anti-lead outfit, then taking a shower on the way out – the two men did not enter the interior of the building.
The explanations on the work in progress, made by General Georgelin, president of the public establishment for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, were therefore made in the rain, with the bedside of the cathedral in the background.
A stonecutter and a decor restorer, incarnations of the "
French know-how
" deployed for this reconstruction, were present at their side.
Major advances
Last December, the General had already announced "
major advances
" in the construction site, with the reconstruction of the stone vault in the North transept, the installation of large wooden arches allowing the reconstruction of the stone arches, the completion of the interior cleaning, and the continuation of that of the painted decorations of the chapels.
The scaffolding used to rebuild the spire should also be put in place in April 2023.
Read alsoNotre-Dame de Paris: behind the scenes of the site of the century
Before going to the dinner given in his honor at the Élysée Palace, Fumio Kishida admitted to having been
“very shocked”
on the evening of April 15, 2019, like the whole world.
As Japan had to deal with the fire at Shuri Castle in Okinawa in October 2019, the Prime Minister said he was
"surprised by the speed of the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris"
.
If all goes well, the cathedral should reopen to the public and to worship in December 2024, probably on the 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
After that, there will still be work to be done outside the building.
According to General Georgelin, the restoration of the fire damage will cost 550 million euros, 150 having already been spent to secure the building.
Some 852 million were collected from 340,000 donors.
