Current:Home > ScamsA milestone for Notre Dame: 1 year until cathedral reopens to public after devastating fire-InfoLens
A milestone for Notre Dame: 1 year until cathedral reopens to public after devastating fire
View Date:2024-12-23 11:46:15
PARIS (AP) — When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. But as the world-famous Paris landmark’s reopening draws closer, they are beginning to picture their return to the place they call home and are impatient to breathe life back into its repaired stonework and vast spaces.
The restoration of Notre Dame hits a milestone Friday: one year until the cathedral reopens its huge doors to the public, on Dec. 8, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will don a hard hat and tour the fenced-off reconstruction site where stonemasons, carpenters and hundreds of other artisans are hammering away to meet the 12-month deadline.
When their job is done, they will hand over to Notre Dame’s priests, employees, chorists and worshippers. With prayers, songs and devotion, they’ll give the cathedral the kiss of life and celebration to nudge aside the pain the April 15, 2019, blaze inflicted on French hearts and Catholic faithful around the world.
Notre Dame is “not the biggest cathedral nor perhaps the most beautiful,” the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, its rector, told The Associated Press this week, but “it is the incarnation of a nation’s soul.”
“The expectations, the preparations for the reopening are a magnificent sign of hope in a difficult world,” he said.
Henri Chalet, the principal choir conductor, already has butterflies at the thought. On one hand, he tells himself that in the 850-plus-year history of Notre Dame, its closure is just a blip and he needs to be patient a little longer. But for a human lifetime, “five years is very long,” he said, and “unfortunately, in 850 years, it fell on us.”
“We are obviously impatient to be able to go back,” he said. “It really is our home, in the sense that we were there every evening for services and also for concerts every week.
“Now, we really feel there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said, “with a lot of joy, enthusiasm and a little stress.”
On the reconstruction side, recent progress has been remarkable. Huge oak beams, put together using carpentry techniques pioneered when Notre Dame was built in medieval times, have been hoisted skyward so the cathedral can be re-roofed. The towering spire now points once more toward the heavens, rebuilt piece by piece behind 600 tons of scaffolding.
When Macron visits, the name of the retired French general who led the big-budget restoration before his death will be carved in tribute in the wood of the spire. Jean-Louis Georgelin died in August, at 74.
And when Olympic visitors descend on Paris in their millions for the Summer Games opening July 26, the rebuilt spire and roof should be complete, giving the cathedral a finished look from outside.
Work inside will continue. Jobs in the final months will include tuning the cathedral’s thunderous 8,000-pipe grand organ, France’s largest musical instrument. It survived the fire but had to be dismantled, cleaned of toxic lead dust generated when the roofing burned, and reassembled. Renovations will continue after the reopening.
The cathedral’s own workforce also is being scaled back up. It was cut to seven employees because of closure for repairs. Dumas, the rector, said a hiring drive next year will restore the number of full-time employees to nearly 50, to welcome back the 15 million annual visitors and worshippers the Paris diocese is bracing for.
Chorist Adrielle Domerg, who was 10 when she joined Notre Dame’s choirs and is now 17, said the cathedral is “almost a person” to her.
“A multitude of people, of dreams, of prayers gave birth to it,” said Domerg, who last sang there with her choir days before the blaze and aches to do so again.
“It’s going to be very emotional,” she said. “The cathedral, in a way, will reawaken and we will pull it out of the shadows.”
veryGood! (5586)
Related
- Tennessee fugitive accused of killing a man and lying about a bear chase is caught in South Carolina
- Get used to it: COVID is a part of the holidays. Here's how to think about risks now
- More Americans are expected to ‘buy now, pay later’ for the holidays. Analysts see a growing risk
- Moscow puts popular Ukrainian singer on wanted list, accusing her of spreading false information about Russian military
- Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
- Albuquerque police cadet and husband are dead in suspected domestic violence incident, police say
- Photos show a shocked nation mourning President John F. Kennedy after assassination
- Photos show a shocked nation mourning President John F. Kennedy after assassination
- Police capture Tennessee murder suspect accused of faking his own death on scenic highway
- An Ohio elementary cheer team is raffling an AR-15 to raise funds
Ranking
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- Messi’s Argentina beats Brazil in a World Cup qualifying game delayed by crowd violence
- Jeff Bezos fund donates $117 million to support homeless charities. Here are the recipients.
- Webb telescope captures cluster of baby stars in the center of the Milky Way
- Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families
- How Melissa Rivers' Fiancé Steve Mitchel Changed Her Mind About Marriage
- Swift, Super Bowl, sports betting: Commissioner Roger Goodell discusses state of NFL
- Police say 2 dead and 5 wounded in Philadelphia shooting that may be drug-related
Recommendation
-
Women’s baseball players could soon have a league of their own again
-
'The whole place shimmered.' 'Dancing With the Stars' celebrates the music of Taylor Swift
-
'Maestro' chronicles the brilliant Bernstein — and his disorderly conduct
-
Elon Musk says X Corp. will donate ad and subscription revenue tied to Gaza war
-
Singles' Day vs. Black Friday: Which Has the Best Deals for Smart Shoppers?
-
Meet the influential women behind Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei
-
25 killed when truck overloaded with food items and people crashes in Nigeria’s north
-
Moscow puts popular Ukrainian singer on wanted list, accusing her of spreading false information about Russian military