The reconstruction of Notre Dame, in data

Reconstruction

The reform has cost 700 million euros. The day after the fire, a donation campaign was launched for reconstruction. In a few hours they raised 846 million euros from donors 150 countriess. Among the largest donors are some very wealthy French families, such as the Arnault family and the LVMH group, as well as the Bettencourt-Meyers family and L’Oréal, the Pinault family and the Total group; Bouygues and JC Decaux, Société Générale, BPCE, Axa and Sanofi. The remaining €146 million will go towards renovating the exterior of the building.

The works have been directed by the architect Philippe Villeneuve. The reconstruction has lasted for five years, and about 2,000 workers of 250 companies; carpenters, restorers, roofers, foundries, art experts, sculptors and engineers worked on the project, with the consequent boost for French craftsmanship.

Cleaning

In June 2020, the withdrawal of more than 500 tons of the destroyed scaffolding and the rubble of the roof and deck. Afterwards, the cleaning of the soot from the fire and the dirt accumulated over centuries from walls, frescoes and paintings began. The organ was dismantled piece by piece, including its 8,000 tubesfor thorough cleaning of accumulated soot.

beam forest

The forest of wooden beams that supported the roof has been recreated, and for this more than 2,000 oakschosen one by one, and with a significant donation of France Bois Forêtelthe national inter-professional body for the forestry and timber industry. Half has been used to reconstruct Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s spire, made of wood lined with lead and built in the 19th century during the restoration of the temple, and the other half is used for the structure of the choir and the nave.

copper rooster

In December 2023 the new copper rooster was placed 96 meters high. Inside the rooster, 90 centimeters highseveral Christian relics and a scroll with the names of the nearly 2,000 people who worked on its reconstruction have been placed. The wings of the rooster are shaped like a flame, which is meant to symbolize that Notre Dame is a new phoenix that rises from its ashes.

Organ

It has taken six months to fine-tune the 8,000 Great Organ Pipesthe most important of the three inside Notre Dame. It was built in 1401 and still preserves pipes of medieval origin. As a result of the fire, the organ was covered in dust and contamination and some parts of the instrument were deformed by the heat of the flames. It was decided to carefully dismantle the 8,000 tubes, a task that was carried out over five months, cleaning them and reassembling them one by one. The restoration of the instrument has been carried out under the supervision of Christian Lutz.

Damage

They have been used 1,000 cubic meters of new stone for the destroyed vaults and damaged walls. They have also been cleaned 42,000 square meters of stone surfaces, have been restored or cleaned 2,000 statues and decorative elements and have been placed 4,000 square meters of molten lead.

Bells

The eight bells of the north bell tower of the cathedral, symbol of Notre Dame, and which weigh in total almost 17 tons (16,752 kilograms to be exact), have returned to the cathedral. Their names – taken from significant people in the history of the temple) are Gabriel (4,162 kg), Anne-Geneviève (3,477 kg), Dennis (2,502 kg), Marcel (1,925kg), Etienne (1,494 kg), Benoit-Joseph (1,309 kg), Maurice (1,101 kg) and Jean-Marie (782kg). To these we must add the two staffs in the south tower, Maria (cast in 1378, 1396, 1402, 1430, 1451 and 1472) and Immanuel (originally Jacqueline, cast in the 14th century, then in 1430, 1451 and 1480; in 1680, she was baptized Emmanuel and her weight was increased). This bell, considered one of the most beautiful in Europe, plays in F sharp. Its diameter at the base is 2.62 m and it is 21 cm thick. It weighs 13 tons, of which 500 kilos correspond to the clapper. The bells They sounded again on November 8, with a new one that was presented during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Visitors

It is expected that after the restoration they will visit Notre-Dame 15 million peoples each year, three million more than before the fire.

Brief history

Notre Dame Cathedral – named after the Virgin Mary – was built between 1163 and 1345 on the Île de la Cité in Paris, and was the Pope Alexander III who laid the first stone in the presence of the King Louis VII. Is one of the gothic style cathedrals oldest and the third largest in the world, only behind those of Cologne in Germany and the Duomo in Milan. During World War II, the German general Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed the order hitler destroying the city before handing it over to the Allied side in 1944 and saved it from destruction. Its bells rang to announce, on August 25, 1944, the liberation of Paris.

The golden ratio is present in its architecture, especially on the west façade; its two towers measure 68 meters high and they have 387 steps each one. The features gargoyles They were added in the 19th century, and they are not only decoration, but have a practical use: they protect the cathedral when it rains, preventing water from falling down the walls and causing damage to the stone.

On October 10, 1924, a plaque was added to the outskirts of the cathedral with an eight-pointed star and the legend ‘Point zéro des routes de France’ (Point zero of the roads of France). It is the kilometer zerothe starting point of all the main roads leading from Paris to the rest of France (such as Madrid’s Puerta del Sol in Spain).

Victor Hugo he immortalized the cathedral in his novel ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame‘ (or Our Lady of Paris), in which he told the story of Quasimodo, a deaf hunchback; Esmeralda, a gypsy woman and Claude Frollo, an archdeacon in Paris in the 15th century. It has been adapted to film and television on several occasions (including Disney’s popular 1996 animated version), turned into a ballet in two iconic choreographies by Jules Perrot and Roland Petit, and has also been adapted to musical theater.