On 15 April 2019, the world watched in horror as flames ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. After five years of extensive work, Notre Dame will once again welcome visitors and worshippers, following a sometimes challenging restoration process. Some 250 companies, hundreds of experts and thousands of workers were mobilised, at a cost of nearly 700 million euros. Thanks to a surge of support, the project was financed by 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 countries.
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00:00On the 15th of April, 2019, the world watched in horror as flames ravaged Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral.
00:16After the devastating fire, President Emmanuel Macron set an ambitious goal to rebuild Notre-Dame within five years.
00:23The country received an unprecedented outpour of support, and the race against the clock began.
00:30Before the restoration could start, tons of charred debris and scaffolding had to be cleared from the 850-year-old medieval building.
00:42But complications began to pile up.
00:44The works were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to clean up the toxic lead dust, which spread when the roof and spire melted.
01:00Finally, in August 2021, the restoration phase began.
01:05One of the biggest losses in the 2019 fire was the medieval beamed roof, most of which dates back to the early 1200s, and the iconic spire.
01:15To rebuild them both, 2,000 mature oak trees were selected from forests across France.
01:31After being cut, the trees were left to dry between 12 and 19 months.
01:38Meanwhile, inside the cathedral, the race to meet the five-year target was intensifying.
01:54Then came the debate about how the Gothic cathedral should rise from the ashes.
01:58Some argued for an exact historical restoration, while others claimed more modern methods and techniques should be used.
02:05After polling French citizens, it was decided that the new spire would be identical to the previous one designed by 19th-century architect Eugène Villers-le-Duc.
02:15But making an exact copy of the 66-meter-high spire was a technical feat.
02:21Engineers carried out thousands of calculations to guide the work of the carpenters.
02:29While waiting for the spire, the timber frames for the roof began to arrive.
02:40At the end of the year, we will see the silhouette of the cathedral with its arrow in the sky of Paris, even if there will still be scaffolding.
02:51Georges Lens tragically passed away in a mountaineering accident in the Pyrenees and was replaced by his right-hand man, Philippe Jost.
02:59Then, in early December 2023, one year away from the date set for its reopening, the cathedral's spire, still under construction, was crowned by its cross.
03:09A few days later, a new golden rooster was hoisted on the top.
03:14In the Christian faith, the rooster represents the return of light after night and is also one of the symbols of France.
03:28It's been less than a year now, and the straight line is still going to have a lot of days, a lot of battles, but we're going, we're determined, we're confident.
03:39While the original Gothic structure was restored, a new and discreet mechanism was also installed, ready to release water in case of another fire.
03:47In February 2024, the new spire began to appear from behind the scaffolding.
03:52That spring, five years to the day after the fire, Notre-Dame regained its shape.
03:57It's magnificent. It's so impressive to see how much work has gone into it, and it's wonderful that people have bothered to do it, because it's such a tribute to Paris.
04:08While tourists were delighted, some local residents were less pleased, due to 200 tons of lead being installed on the new roof.
04:16But according to the site managers, the roof is inaccessible, causing no risk of lead ingestion, and water runoff will be collected and filtered.
04:28In September, Notre-Dame finally got its bells back when eight of them returned to the North Tower.
04:44And in November, the original statue of the Virgin and Child, which survived the fire, returned home.
04:52The stained glass windows have regained their color, the walls have been cleaned, and the organ restored.
04:58The impressive feat was made possible thanks to some 250 companies, hundreds of experts, and 2,000 workers.
05:06Costing nearly 700 million euros, it was financed by the 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 countries in a surge of solidarity.
05:18The remaining money is to be allocated to urgent restorations of the exterior of the cathedral, with works expected to be finished by 2030.