Notre-Dame rises from ashes

MACRON: PRESIDENT VOWS TO REBUILD GUTTED CATHEDRAL IN JUST FIVE YEARS

resident Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame “even more beautifully” within five years, as all of France’s cathedrals prepared to ring their bells on Wednesday to mark 48 hours since the colossal fire began.

The blaze on Monday gutted the great Paris landmark, destroying the roof, causing the steeple to collapse and leaving France reeling with shock.

Macron announced the speedy timescale for restoration – a process some experts had said would take decades – in an address to the nation where he hailed how the disaster had shown the capacity of France to mobilise and unite.

Pledges worth about €700 million (R11 billion) have already been made from French billionaires and businesses to restore the Gothic masterpiece.

An unknown number of artefacts and paintings have been lost and the main organ, which had close to 8 000 pipes, has also suffered damage. But the cathedral’s walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows at France’s most visited tourist attraction remain intact.

In a further sign of the monument’s resilience, the copper rooster that topped its spire was found in the rubble from the partly collapsed roof, “battered but apparently restorable” according to a spokesperson for the culture ministry.

Macron’s announcement of a five-year restoration timeframe indicates he wants the reconstruction to be completed by the time Paris hosts the Olympic Games in 2024.

“We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautifully and I want it to be finished within five years,” he said in the speech from the presidential palace. “We can do it.” Macron said the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country riven with divisions and since November, shaken by sometimes violent protests against his rule.

It had shown that “our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome”, he said.

The police, who suspect the operation to replace the steeple’s lead covering may have triggered the disaster, have already spoken to 30 people from five different construction companies.

Public prosecutor Remy Heitz has said the investigation promises to be “long and complex”.

Images from inside the cathedral showed its immense walls standing proud, with statues still in place.