Notre Dame restoration ready to start as safety work completed
Work to shore up Notre Dame in Paris has
been finished, allowing restoration to start at the cathedral two years after a
fire destroyed the attic and sent its spire crashing through the vaults below.
Soon after the April 2019 blaze, the French
president, Emmanuel Macron, said the cathedral – which dates back to the 12th
century – would be rebuilt. He later promised to reopen it to worshippers by
2024, when France hosts the Olympic Games.
The final phase of efforts to secure its
structure included reinforcing the fire-damaged vaults with wooden arches, the
state agency leading the work said, adding that it was on track to meet
Macron’s reopening target date.
The cathedral will be restored to its
previous design, including the 96-metre (315ft) spire designed by the architect
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the mid-1800s and for which new timber has been
selected.
Restoration work is expected to start
during the coming months after a bidding process to select companies. Before
that, a cleaning operation for the building’s interior walls and floor will
start this month, the agency said in a statement.
