After five years of restoration, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris reopens its doors to the world, sublimated by exceptional work. The blond stone, bronze liturgical furnishings and ancestral craftsmanship bring this unique landmark back to life.

Following an inaugural week from December 8 to 15, dedicated to celebrating the reopening and paying tribute to those who saved and rebuilt the cathedral, Notre-Dame will resume its daily schedule from December 16.

The architect in charge of the restoration is Philippe Villeneuve, who led a team of skilled artisans and craftsmen dedicated to restoring the cathedral to its former glory.

As a French national, seeing the day Notre-Dame is opening its doors again is like a lucid dream to me – after witnessing its destruction firsthand, seeing it rise from its ashes is a special and indescribable feeling.

I remember, in 2019, on that dreaded April day, receiving dozens of phone calls, in the early evening.

“Where are you,” my family and friends asked. Some were in the street, some in the metro.

"There is smoke outside, and metros aren't working," was the universal sentence that day.

Nothing out of the ordinary if you have lived in Paris for more than a few years – but that day, it was.

On 15 April 2019, Notre-Dame was burning. Paris was burning, literally.

Notre-Dame de Paris, on 15 April 2019 / Milliped / wikicommons

I remember us all, speechless and helpless, watching, as one of our most monumental landmarks, a behemoth of both French culture and history, was going up in smoke.

We were all gathered, on each side of the river banks, as the flames swallowed the silhouette of Notre Dame, and as its spire collapsed.

“The reopening of Notre-Dame bears witness to an immense collective effort,” shares the Notre-Dame team.

“Thanks to the commitment of the Church, the State, patrons, teams from the public establishment, companions, artists and companies, the challenge of rebuilding in five years has been successfully met. This feat illustrates what unity and mobilisation can achieve in the face of hardship.”

The project was overseen by General Jean-Louis Georgelin, appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Tragically, General Georgelin passed away in August 2024. Following his death, Philippe Jost, an engineer with a military background, assumed leadership of the restoration.

The restoration project involved over a thousand craftsmen and utilised traditional techniques alongside modern technology to ensure historical accuracy and structural integrity.

Carpenters utilised medieval methods, such as hand-hewing oak beams with axes, to reconstruct the cathedral's wooden framework, mirroring 13th-century craftsmanship, and artisans applied traditional stonemasonry techniques to repair and replace damaged limestone blocks, while newer tech, such as 3D laser scanning and modeling as well as Building Information Modeling (BIM) were used to create precise digital models of the cathedral.

Built on the Île de la Cité in Paris, Notre-Dame occupies a site that has been a place of worship for centuries, dating back to Roman times, when a temple dedicated to Jupiter stood there.

The cathedral's construction began in 1163 under the reign of King Louis VII and lasted until 1345, taking nearly 200 years, and gutted by an inferno in a few hours 674 years after.

“You have transformed coal into art,” Macron said to thank the craftsmen who rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris, describing the reconstruction as a "human adventure of epic proportions.”

Image: Ceiling of Notre-Dame / notredamedeparis.fr

Clémence Carayol

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