Emmanuel Macron visited the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site this Friday, December 8, one year before the reopening of the cathedral. On site, the Head of State made several announcements, praised the work of the craftsmen and invited the Pope for the reopening of Notre-Dame in December 2024.
One year to the day of the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, Emmanuel Macron goes to the cathedral construction site. This Friday, December 8, 2023, the President of the Republic will personally ensure the good progress of the work which meets the very ambitious deadlines of reconstruction in five years. Construction helmet on his head, the Head of State will be hoisted as close as possible to the works, in particular those of the framework of the famous spire culminating 96 meters above the ground. A framework put in place, in the middle of the scaffolding, at the end of November and joined on Wednesday December 6 by the eight meter high Christian cross.
By Christmas, the tip of the spire is expected to rise above the scaffolding if the work schedule is met. A deadline that Emmanuel Macron could specify since during his visit the Head of State must discuss the continuation of the project until December 8, 2024 as well as the finishing touches which could extend until 2029. But above all, he must officially start the one-year countdown until Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral reopens its doors.
The arrival of Emmanuel Macron on the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site will also be an emotional moment with the tribute paid to General Jean-Louis Georgelin. The man chosen to oversee the reconstruction of the cathedral died on August 18 while hiking alone in the Pyrenees. The former chief of staff, who will not be able to attend the reopening of the place, will forever be present in the body of the cathedral since his name will be “engraved in the wood” of the new spire, as indicated by the AFP. “Notre-Dame loses ‘the master builder of its rebirth'” Emmanuel Macron wrote this summer after the death of the general, he will attend this tribute with his Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak.
If the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site is nearing completion, a few details still need to be resolved. Emmanuel Macron could take advantage of his visit to make some announcements, in particular regarding the new contemporary stained glass windows requested by Mgr Laurent Ulrich. The Archbishop of Paris had written to the Head of State to express his wish “that the return to [the cathedral] cannot be done without marking, in the restored building, a trace of this event,” reports RTL. In the opinion of the archbishop, this trace could take the form of stained glass windows depicting the fire and the reconstruction of the building and installed in the southern chapels of the nave. Another point to be decided for the President of the Republic: the creation of a “Notre-Dame museum” near the cathedral on the Île de la Cité.
The Notre-Dame de Paris construction site has not escaped some controversies such as that concerning the identical reproduction of the roof and the spire with the use of lead. The subject has been raised for several days by the environmentalist senator of Paris, Anne Souyris, who requested the “suspension of the construction site” regretting that no study on the ecological impact of the reconstruction of certain elements of the cathedral has been carried out. . Will Emmanuel Macron respond to the controversy? It already seems certain that the work will not be postponed and even less suspended.
