Before the fire in 2019, the temple received 12 million people a year, it was one of the main tourist attractions in Paris and the most frequented monument in history.
A Notre Dame cathedral, which caught fire in 2019, is expected to have its tower restored later this year, the French government said this week, however, the authorities in charge of rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris maintain 2024 as the reopening date. “The works are proceeding at a good pace, which allows us to be confident of a reopening at the end of 2024, according to the objective set by the president Emmanuel Macron“, said the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak. The 96-meter high tower, designed in the 19th century by the architect Viollet-Le-Duc, collapsed during the fire, April 15, 2019, which sank the entire lead roof. It is being rebuilt identically to the original materials, with 500 tons of oak wood for the structure and 250 tons of lead for the roof and decorations – a resource that was a serious problem during the works at the time, as the European Commission plans to ban its use.
The promise to reopen Notre-Dame in the year that the country will host the Olympics and Paralympics, was launched by the French leader on the same night of the fire, which destroyed the ceiling of the cathedral and damaged parts of its interior. “The reconstruction of the first vault that collapsed represents an important step, and the interior decoration is recovering all its beauty”, explained General Georgelin. The gigantic reconstruction work of the century-old Parisian cathedral has suffered numerous delays, mainly due to melted lead, which required a deep campaign to decontaminate the site and surroundings, and later due to the covid-19 pandemic, as well as archaeological finds in the basement of the temple. . The chosen date would be December 8, 2024, the day of the Immaculate Conception, in accordance with the will of the ecclesiastical authorities. Before the fire, the church was one of the main tourist attractions in Paris and the most frequented monument in history, receiving more than 12 million visitors a year.
*With information from AFP
Source: Jovempan
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