Emmanuel Macron on the roofs of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, April 15, 2021. – BENOIT TESSIER / POOL / AFP
Emmanuel Macron visited, this Thursday morning, the impressive reconstruction site of Notre-Dame Cathedral, two years to the day after the fire, which must be reopened for worship on April 16, 2024, even if the site will not be completed by this date.
This is the first time that the Head of State has returned to the scene since the destruction of the roof and the spire by the flames on April 15, 2019. Emmanuel Macron went to a platform surrounding the gutted roof of the cathedral to observe the rope access technicians at work, abseiling, securing the vaults of the Heart by masking unstable stones. An essential step before setting up the securing scaffolding.
Emmanuel Macron thanks the donors
The president must meet the teams mobilized for this phase of securing, prior to its reconstruction. A moment to thank “all those who are working on its reconstruction (carpenters, scaffolders, rope access technicians, crane operators, organ builders, master glassmakers, painting and sculpture restorers, stonemasons, archaeologists and researchers)”, but also “to again all those who made it possible to save the cathedral from the flames, as well as the 340,000 donors from all over the world who make this project possible, ”according to the Elysee.
He is accompanied by the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, his special representative for the reconstruction General Jean-Louis Georgelin, the chief architect of historical monuments Philippe Villeneuve, and Bishop Michel Aupetit , Archbishop of Paris, of Mgr Eric Aumonier, representing the diocese of Paris and of the rector of the cathedral Mgr Patrick Chauvet.