Macron takes yearly Notre Dame tour
1 year to its reopening after horrific 2019 fire
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron visited Notre Dame Cathedral on Friday, one year before its scheduled reopening in 2024.
After a blaze burned through the roof and spire on April 15, 2019, Macron’s visits have become a tradition, with Friday marking his sixth to highlight the rebuilding progress. Huge oak beams have been hoisted skyward so the cathedral can be reroofed.
The French leader on Friday went up the spire, reconstructed from its previous design by the famed 19th-century French architect Eugène Viollet-le-duc. It stands
315 feet tall and was crowned with a cross earlier this week. It is soon to be topped by a rooster, restoring an emotional symbol for the French of their heritage. The rooster was first used as a symbol of hope and faith in the Middle Ages, gaining its association with the French nation during the Renaissance.
“Since April 2019, the entire nation has been rebuilding,” Macron told reporters. “And it’s very moving to be here a year before. You can see the extraordinary progress of the work on this nave, the choir and the frames and the spire.”
The schedule calls for the completion of the penultimate restoration phase by the end of the year, with the cathedral’s much-anticipated reopening set for Dec. 8, 2024.
During his visit, Macron paid homage to Gen. Jean-louis Georgelin, who oversaw the reconstruction and died in August. Macron was given a tool to assist as Georgelin’s name was inscribed in the wood of the spire under the aegis of an artisan, memorializing the general’s contribution to the cathedral.
Macron’s visit underscored a personal attachment to the architectural jewel, a symbol of the country’s rich cultural, literary and religious history.