‘You have brought Notre-Dame back’-Macron praises Notre-Dame Cathedral restoration
Restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral
France’s President, Emmanuel Macron has praised workers for achieving the “impossible” task of restoring Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral after a major fire engulfed the Gothic jewel in 2019.
On Friday the world had a first look inside a resplendent new Notre-Dame as Macron conducted a televised tour to mark the cathedral’s imminent re-opening.
Five-and-a-half years after the devastating fire, Paris’s Gothic jewel has been rescued.
In a speech to the craftsmen and women who worked on the refurbishment, Macron said: “The blaze at Notre-Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment.”
“I am so deeply grateful, France is so deeply grateful,” the president said during his speech, adding: “you have brought Notre-Dame back”.
Macron – accompanied by his wife Brigitte and Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich – kicked off a programme of ceremonies that will culminate with an official “entry” into the cathedral on 7 December and the first Catholic Mass the day after.
On entering the refurbished cathedral, Macron said it was now “repaired, reinvented and rebuilt”.
He was then shown highlights of the building’s €700m (£582m) renovation – including the massive roof timbers that replaced the medieval frame consumed in the fire.
Source: BBC News
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