From the Wall Street Journal:
The limestone facade of Notre Dame Cathedral is radiant. Its ornate gargoyles and angels show no signs of the smoke and flames that once billowed from the church. The cavernous interior is immaculate, the soot having been meticulously scrubbed from its arches.
By almost any metric the restoration of Notre Dame has been a success, coming just five years after a fire swept across the masterpiece of Gothic architecture nearly destroying it. A host of global figures, including President-elect Donald Trump, are scheduled to pay homage to the church in a Saturday ceremony to inaugurate its reopening.
From AP:
During part one of Notre Dame’s rebirth on Saturday evening, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will lead more than 1,500 guests through a reopening service. Part two, on Sunday, is an inaugural Mass, with special rites to consecrate the main altar. Forecasts of stormy winds forced a late change in plans Friday, moving all of Saturday’s events indoors. Still, the weekend’s high points are expected to be the ritualized reopening of the cathedral’s massive doors, the reawakening of its thunderous organ and the celebration of the first Mass. For both France and the Catholic Church, the televised and tightly scripted ceremonies will be an opportunity to display can-do resilience and global influence.
From AP:
France’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral is formally reopening its doors on Saturday for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark in 2019.
The restoration, a spectacular achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build, is seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline — and a welcome respite from his domestic political woes. President-elect Donald Trump, America’s first lady Jill Biden and Britain’s Prince William, along with dozens of state and government and personalities — 1,500 guests in all — will attend the reopening celebration under Notre Dame’s soaring Gothic arches, led by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich.
From The New York Times:
It took about 250 companies, 2,000 workers, about $900 million, a tight deadline and a lot of national pride. The day of the tour, after taking a clanging elevator to the top of a maze of scaffolding, we saw roofers installing new lead sheets and crested ornaments on the roof, whistling, drilling, hammering and soldering as birds squawked above. Perched on the new spire were a cross and a gilded copper rooster that contains relics of saints and now, a scroll naming all of the restoration workers.
Those workers overcame Covid-19 lockdowns, toiled under stringent safety measures to avoid exposure to toxic lead dust, and coped with the death last year of Mr. Jost’s predecessor, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, who prided himself on keeping the project on track.