Notre Dame spire unveiled as scaffolding removed
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Transcript
00:00 Gracing the skyline of Paris once again, the spire of Notre Dame was unveiled
00:04 five years after the cathedral's roof was ravaged by a fire. And while much of
00:09 the scaffolding remains, this gives the public a taste of what the cathedral
00:13 will look like once its restoration is finished.
00:16 "We come here regularly to see how things are going because it really matters to us."
00:21 "I'm impressed by the speed at which the scaffolding comes down."
00:25 The last few months have seen remarkable progress on the cathedral's rebuilding
00:30 after it was damaged by a fire in April 2019. It was only in December that the
00:36 Notre Dame got its golden rooster back, rising from its ashes like a phoenix.
00:42 The spire was designed to be identical to the one lost in the fire, in solid oak.
00:47 But it won't keep this aspect much longer, as workers have been tasked with
00:52 covering the spire with lead to provide perfect waterproofing.
00:57 "It's part of the mystery of Notre Dame. This masterpiece of carpentry will be
01:02 completely covered in lead, so we're among the few, the last privileged few,
01:06 to be able to observe it so closely."
01:10 The spire should be fully visible at the time of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,
01:15 while the cathedral is expected to reopen to the public on December 8.