Other plans include transforming the cathedral’s courtyard into a square lined by trees with a cooling feature by 2027, and the underground parking garage into an indoor promenade opening out onto the River Seine. Work will continue even after the reopening, with the full restoration of the cathedral to be completed in 2025. Notre Dame Cathedral is also being deep cleaned to remove the effects of centuries of dust and pollution and the debris from the fire. The same traditional approach will also be followed inside the cathedral, in keeping with architect Viollet-le-Duc’s vision.

Currently, a thousand artisans and craftspeople are working to meet the five-year reopening deadline.Īlthough architects from around the world did offer design proposals, some of them fairly outlandish, in the end, it was decided to stick to the original design as far as possible where the facade was concerned. French President Emmanuel Macron had initially hoped that Notre Dame Cathedral would be ready again for the Paris Summer Olympics in July 2024, but it took two years after the fire just to stabilise the structure in order that restorers could work safely within it. The cathedral will resume religious service and open again to visitors in December 2024. So central is the cathedral to France that all road distances from Paris are measured from the cathedral square. Its religious treasures include a piece of the cross and a nail believed to have been used in Christ’s crucifixion, as well as his crown of thorns, all fortunately saved from the fire. In 1831, when it had been all but abandoned, Victor Hugo’s book The Hunchback of Notre Dame brought interest back to the architectural marvel with its gargoyles, artworks, and stained-glass rose windows. It is where coronations and royal weddings have taken place notably Napoleon I treated himself to an unprecedented five-hour coronation ceremony here. The 860-year-old cathedral was the most visited historic monument in France before the fire, and its closure has been difficult for people eager to see this edifice with great historic, cultural and religious significance. Now it has been announced that the iconic monument will be reopened in December 2024. On April 15, 2019, a devastating fire ripped through Notre Dame Cathedral – Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, to give it its official name – and destroyed its roof and spire. Here’s what you need to know about Notre Dame Cathedral’s reopening next year after the fire in 2019

Hugo notre dame de paris résumé