The rebirth of Notre Dame Cathedral

Those indelible images of a burning cathedral against the Parisian skyline were also burned into our memory. But the heartbreak of that day in April 2019, when seemingly all was lost, has given way to a resurrection of sorts. 

On Saturday night, with a ritual knocking, the Archbishop of Paris marked the reopening of Notre Dame just five years after the fire, unveiling a restoration perhaps as extraordinary as was the destruction itself.

At the gleaming Gothic monument, French President Emmanuel Macron – triumphant after the successful completion of his audacious five-year renovation deadline – hosted world leaders and luminaries, among them Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Britain’s Prince William, and President-elect Donald Trump.

Last summer “Sunday Morning” was granted rare access to the cathedral.

Philippe Jost, who was in charge of meeting Macron’s deadline, said, “It’s a national challenge. The schedule, the time – five years. But we needed that.”

Why? “To mobilize. It’s such a challenge, you see, and challenge unifies people.”

Jost said workers were asked to do things not done in 150 years: “Such a spire to build, such a big roof with oak and lead? We were not sure workers would be able.”

To rebuild, they first had to stabilize the 12th century monument, encasing it in scaffolding. Then, 21st century tools – drones and computer animations – were used to study and guide the reconstruction. 

• From 2021: Reconstructing Notre Dame Cathedral (“Sunday Morning”)

Among the changes meant to prevent a repeat of the 2019 fire (which investigators believe was an accident) was the installation of misters – the first of its kind in a cathedral in France – so that if there were to be a fire in the future, a mist would come out and help fight that fire. Also, massive metal trusses divide the roof into three sections, making it less likely for a fire to spread.

Amid such a grand reconstruction, Thomas Lefevre was among the army of artisans working on the smallest of scales – cutting decorative lead details for the roof. All the pieces are hand-made, and cut on-site.

Around 2,000 people helped rebuild, from a foundry in Normandy that re-tuned the bells which rang out again this weekend, to those scouring forests for centuries-old oak, to find a thousand pieces of French oak to rebuild the spire.

Help came from across France. At Guédelon, in France’s Burgundy region, they’re building a castle from scratch. A handful of workers applied their skills, sharpened there, to the effort in Paris. Maryline Martin, co-founder of this historical experiment-turned-tourist attraction, said, “French carpenters who want to do the job in Notre Dame, call us and come to learn how to cut to wood as medieval techniques with the medieval tools.”

• Building a medieval castle from scratch (“Sunday Morning”)

And at the Mobilier National in Paris, paintings once covered in soot were on display before being returned to Notre Dame.  “It was a disaster, the fire,” said curator Oriane Lavit. “But in some ways, there is a luck, because we have the funds to restore 22 canvases. … There is a lot of money to do the restoration.” [Nearly $900 million was raised from 150 countries, including around 40,000 donors in the United States.]

One of the aims of the exhibition is to show people the work of restoration on the canvases, with before-and-after images of the paintings, to show “the revelation of colors,” said Lavit.

The newly-cleaned interior of the cathedral is now markedly lighter. In a side chapel, a restorer was retouching where centuries of grime had been removed, revealing the bright colors. “It’s true,” restorer Charlotte Phelouzat told us. “Everything was black, and by doing a simple cleaning, we could already find the original colors.”

When we first saw the renovation underway, retired French army general Jean-Louis Georgelin was in charge. He pointed out the cavity where the spire once was: “This is the heart of the drama here,” he said.

Today, where that gaping hole in the roof was, the spire now stands. It’s been completely rebuilt.

The general died in a hiking accident last year. Philippe Jost had been his number two.  “It was a big shock for all of us,” he said. “But we knew that it was what he would have wanted for us, to continue the work.”

Jost said it was important to rebuilt Notre Dame as close to the way it was as possible. “It’s what we owe to this monument,” he said.

He calls this a “monument with a soul.”

As Notre Dame opens to the public, this painstaking renovation proves a testament to human innovation past and present. France’s president praised the firefighters, engineers and craftspeople as he declared “The bells of Notre Dame are ringing again.”

      
For more info:

• Notre Dame of Paris (Official site)

      
Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Brian Robbins. 

     
See also:

• Notre Dame, the world’s church (“Sunday Morning”)
• From 2011: The history of France’s Notre Dame Cathedral (“Sunday Morning”)
• Gallery: Fire burns Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris