OUR LADY. While the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris dates back almost three years, the reconstruction site of the cathedral is still in progress. A reopening in the spring of 2024 is still planned…
[Mis à jour le 16 mars 2022 à 15h33] That was three years ago almost to the day. Notre-Dame de Paris was struck by a violent fire which completely ravaged the cathedral and almost destroyed it if the firefighters had not succeeded in stabilizing the building. This April 15, 2019, until the end of the night, millions of people followed live, completely stunned, in Paris itself or on television, the evolution of the disaster which finally ravaged the famous Parisian cathedral without making it to fall. The fire of Notre-Dame is today staged in the film “Notre-Dame burns” by Jean-Jacques Annaud. But where is the reconstruction of this symbol of the capital and well beyond today?
At the end of the Notre-Dame fire, the spire of the building, its roof, as well as part of the vault, pierced in three places, were seriously damaged. The great fortunes of the country had pledged to pay more than 850 million euros for the reconstruction. There is also talk of 833 million euros in donations which should make it possible to restore the cathedral. A sum collected thanks to a national and international collection that brought together 340,000 donors.
The construction of Notre-Dame had given rise to a colossal construction site, spread over nearly 200 years, between 1163 and 1345. If this is not the first time that the cathedral has suffered a fire – it was the case in particular in 1836 – , reconstruction involves technical and heritage considerations. A titanic project that Emmanuel Macron had asked to “complete within five years”.
Will the cathedral of Notre-Dame be rebuilt identically?
For a time, the reconstruction of Notre-Dame and in particular of its spire, caused debate between those in favor of modernization and those who wanted it to be reconstructed identically. Not far from a millennium after the beginning of the construction of the famous cathedral, the general principle is to rebuild identically, while offering “a new youth” to the building.
After considering a more contemporary version, this is indeed the decision taken by President Macron in the summer of 2020, after consultation with the National Heritage and Architecture Commission (CNPA), bringing together elected officials, experts and site architects. Among the durable materials that will be used are lead for the roof and oak wood for the frame. “We have chosen continuity. We want to give back to the French, to the whole world, the cathedral they love”, justified on this point Jean-Louis Georgelin, appointed head of the establishment responsible for the reconstruction.
Several experts have expressed doubts about the feasibility of such a project, believing that to meet the five-year deadline announced by Emmanuel Macron, it was impossible to restore the wooden frame to an identical one. Only the use of modern materials, such as steel or concrete, would make it possible to meet the delivery time announced according to them.
IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. The architectural possibilities offered by the monumental construction site of the cathedral have inspired the world’s greatest masters in the field, who have submitted various projects, more or less modern, close to the original or completely futuristic.
When is the reopening of Notre-Dame set?
The reopening of Notre-Dame is scheduled for 2024. “In 2024, you will see in the sky of Paris shine the arrow which will no longer be the arrow of Viollet-Le-Duc but of Philippe Villeneuve [l’architecte en charge de la reconstruction – NDMLR] !” declared General Jean-Louis Georgelin at the start of the construction site. A Te Deum was announced on April 15, 2024 within the cathedral even if the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot and General Jean-Louis Georgelin himself have warned that the work will undoubtedly continue well after the reopening.
The forecourt of Notre-Dame could not be reopened until the spring of 2020, a reopening delayed both because of lead pollution and then confinement issues.
How is the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris progressing?
After the site securing phase, the Notre-Dame construction site progressed with difficulty. For months, it will have been necessary to evacuate the debris from the frame piece by piece, then dismantle the gigantic scaffolding which had been put in place for the work in progress on the roof at the time of the fire. All with the disruptions caused by persistent lead pollution and the coronavirus epidemic, requiring drastic measures of distancing and hygiene. The second phase, devoted to the study of the inventory, involving the diagnosis and the true cost of the restoration, followed, which also took months.
The reconstruction phase itself could only begin at the beginning of 2022. A thousand oak trees from France were donated, mostly from five regions (Burgundy, Center Val de Loire, Grand Est, Pays de la Loire, Normandy) for the main framework. Half of them come from public forests, half from nearly 150 private forests. After cutting, drying on site, “skidding” (transfer to the edge of the roads) and debitage, they had to be transported to around twenty sawmills. Towards the beginning of 2023, they will be transported to the workshops of the carpenters, who will follow the plans of Viollet-Le-Duc for an identical reconstruction. Oaks have also been offered by foreign donors. In a later phase, it will be necessary to redo the medieval frameworks of the nave and the choir with thousands of other trees, younger this time.
IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. Emmanuel Macron, who visited the site of Notre-Dame for the two years of the fire, maintained the commitment to rebuild the cathedral for 2024…
What will the interior of Notre-Dame de Paris look like?
Heritage experts gave the green light to the future interior redevelopment of Notre-Dame de Paris on December 9, 2021 only. A favorable opinion with two reservations: the place of statues that they wish to keep in the chapels and the pews “for which the clergy must review their copy”, specified the Ministry of Culture to AFP. The project called for benches on wheels, equipped with luminaries, which the experts would like to judge on the basis of prototypes. While the choir was to be transformed into a prayer space, the experts also expressed their veto, “fearing that the floor, which dates from the 18th century, will be damaged by the passage of the faithful and tourists”.
The Ministry of Culture, for its part, reaffirmed that contemporary works should take their place alongside the original paintings, but “no name of artists has yet been decided”. A proposal highly criticized by a hundred personalities, including the host Stéphane Bern or the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, in a forum published in Le Figaro and the Tribune de l’Art at the end of 2021.
Who is Philippe Villeneuve, the architect supervising the restoration of Notre-Dame?
Philippe Villeneuve is a Knight of Arts and Letters, and has directed the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral since 2013, when he succeeded Benjamin Mouton. At the time of the fire, he was in charge of the work on the Viollet-le-Duc spire, which completely disappeared in the flames. Since then, the Minister of Culture has renewed his confidence in him, and he is now leading the work to secure the building, before the actual restoration work can begin.
Previously, Philippe Villeneuve distinguished himself in the restoration of several museums, but above all for his work at the Château de Chambord, where he was responsible for the gardens and the restoration of the keep, as well as the construction of the reception hall.
The fire of Notre-Dame de Paris in pictures
On Monday April 15, 2019, shortly before 7 p.m., a fire broke out on the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris. One of the biggest disasters of recent years in the capital begins. For nearly 15 hours, the firefighters will take enormous risks to try to save the building, which is close to collapsing. They will only begin to bring the fire under control and stabilize the situation in the middle of the night.
From the start of the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, images of the tragedy circulated en masse on social networks, before news agencies took over. All evening, photos of the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris showed huge flames escaping from the roof of the building, in a thick cloud of smoke. The collapse of the spire of Notre-Dame on itself was another episode rich in dramatic images. On Tuesday, new images were unveiled by AFP, photos taken inside the cathedral, on which we see the extent of the damage in the nave.
What caused the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris?
The exact causes of the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris on Monday April 15, 2019 are unknown at this stage, but the monument was undergoing restoration work when the fire broke out. An investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office to determine the circumstances of the start of the fire, and entrusted to the judicial police. The investigation phase in the rubble is over. A long phase of analysis of the samples must still last several months to try to identify the origin of the disaster. Only one thing is certain: it is not a criminal act, the police having not found any criminal origin at the start of the fire.
According to the first elements of the investigation, revealed by Le Parisien, the police identified that the fire had started at the base of the large arrow, around 6:50 p.m. They suspect a fault in the electrical installation and a short circuit, the causes of which remain to be established. According to the newspaper, the investigators are wondering about the installation of an elevator on the site, but the hypothesis of a fire starting on a hot spot linked to a weld has not been ruled out.