PARIS, December 8 (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron visited the construction site of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on Friday where he said he saw an “image of hope”, one year to the day before the reopening to worship and the public of emblematic monument of Christianity burned down in April 2019.
The Head of State announced the launch of an artists’ competition to decorate six stained glass windows on the south side of the cathedral and the creation of a “museum of the work of Notre-Dame de Paris” which will be installed in the nearby Hôtel-Dieu.
Arriving in the company of his wife Brigitte and the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak, Emmanuel Macron climbed to the top of the spire reconstructed identically on the model imagined in the 19th century by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and which now culminates at 96 meters high.
In the nave still under construction, Emmanuel Macron welcomed “an important and moving moment”.
“We are meeting deadlines,” he said. “It’s a fantastic image of hope and of a France that has been rebuilt.”
He paid tribute to General Jean-Louis Georgelin, former chief of staff of the armed forces responsible for supervising the work of Notre-Dame, who died accidentally this summer at the age of 74.
“Without him we would not be here,” said Emmanuel Macron.
Half a thousand workers and journeymen work daily on the Notre-Dame construction site, which has dominated the Île de la Cité since the Middle Ages.
The next stage of work, at the start of 2024, involves covering the roof with rolled lead. The time will then come to reinstall the furniture inside the cathedral, in particular the chairs, the statues and the organ which has been completely renovated.
The most visited monument in Europe before the fire, Notre-Dame-de-Paris Cathedral will not be open to the public during the Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, editing by Kate Entringer)
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