The spire of Notre-Dame de Paris will once again overlook the capital “before Christmas”
While it was destroyed during the cathedral fire in April 2019, the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris should overcome the building before the end of 2023. This reconstruction is the culmination of a long construction site.
There “familiar silhouette” of the spire of Notre-Dame, ravaged by a fire in 2019, will be visible in the sky of Paris “before Christmas”we learned on Friday November 17 from the public establishment responsible for supervising its reconstruction project. “The construction site is progressing well and the solid oak structure or framework of the spire will be completed in December. Its familiar silhouette should peak again at 96 m above the ground before Christmas”specified the same source.
The spire, identical to the previous one, designed by the 19th century architect Viollet-le-Duc, and which collapsed in the fire of April 15, 2019, will however remain surrounded by the scaffolding which was used to erect the this structure. He “will be used for the installation of its lead cover and ornaments in 2024”, added the establishment. In parallel, “the assembly of the frames of the nave and the choir of the cathedral, which also collapsed in the fire, will be completed at the beginning of 2024, the date on which the installation of their roofing can also begin.”
A reopening planned for December 2024
On the interior catering side, “the simultaneous cleaning of the walls, painted decorations and vaults, with a total area of 42,000 square meters, is completed. The scaffolding is dismantled gradually”, added this source. “Current last quarter 2024”once completed “the installation of technical networks in the ground” and the latest interior restorations, the cathedral will be ready to welcome its brand new liturgical furniture in dark brown bronze, sober and solid, as well as 1,500 openwork designer chairs in solid oak.
The reopening of the cathedral is still planned for December 8, 2024, after the Paris Olympics in the summer, as Emmanuel Macron confirmed during the national tribute paid at the end of August to General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who directed the construction site. reconstruction and died accidentally this summer. It was his right-hand man, the senior civil servant Philippe Jost, who succeeded him. A masterpiece of Gothic art admired throughout the world, Notre-Dame de Paris welcomed 12 million visitors on average each year before the fire, 2,500 services and 150 concerts.
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