Rebuilding Notre Dame: More beautiful than ever

Dhe tour of Notre Dame de Paris begins in a dressing room. “What’s your shoe size?” asks a friendly receptionist. Then she routinely hands over the green rubber boots in the desired size, a laundry package and a white hard hat. Because it’s so cold, there’s an extra fleece jacket.

For the construction site of the century you have to get rid of everyday clothes and put on disposable underwear, stockings and overalls. That’s the strict protocol that everyone has to follow. But somehow it also seems as if you first have to shed your skin to become aware of the rebirth of the unique building in the French capital.

When the spire collapsed in the conflagration on the fateful evening of April 15, 2019 and flames ate through the roof structure, the embers also melted 200 tons of highly toxic lead. To protect themselves from the remains of the lead, the stonemasons, bricklayers, craftsmen, carpenters, industrial climbers, master glaziers, blacksmiths and preservationists must shower and change their clothes daily before lunch and before work. The precautionary measures cost time and money.

A base camp made of containers has been set up at the back of the cathedral, with offices, showers, changing rooms and a canteen. One of the many donors, French catering company Sodexo, is providing the meals free of charge. In this way, during the pandemic, when all restaurants were closed, the works did not have to be interrupted. The reconstruction of the cathedral is progressing at a rapid pace, says Jean-Louis Georgelin, the five-star general who is coordinating the work as the French president’s special envoy.

But there can be no talk of quick steps at first. The rubber boots smack with every step. But the uncomfortable shoes are forgotten when the entrance portal opens. “I want to show you what it feels like to re-enter, like we all did before the fire,” says Frédérique Meyer, head of communications for the specially created public body for reconstruction. “You will be amazed by the beauty of this iron cathedral inside the stone cathedral!” adds the young woman, who is passionate about the construction work.

She shouldn’t be fooled. Scaffolding, 1200 tons of steel, stretches over 15 levels and 33 meters high, filling the entire interior except for the floor of the nave and the axis of the choir loft. Meyer shows the spot where the scaffolding will soon grow to a dizzying 100 meters in height. “The renaissance of the cathedral is embodied in the reconstruction of the spire. It is a highly symbolic operation. Morning and evening we think of nothing else. If we have managed that, we can really say: We have won,” says General Georgelin.