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Notre Dame Is Slowly Returning To Its Former Glory One Year After Devastating Fire

Notre Dame Is Slowly Returning To Its Former Glory One Year After Devastating Fire

Authorities hope to be able to reopen the 13th century building in 2024

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

It's been one year since a fire tore through the famed Notre Dame cathedral.

People around the world were devastated when the inferno started beneath the roof of the 13th century structure and quickly made its way through the rest of the building.

The blaze sparked hundreds of millions of dollars in donations for the reconstruction, with French President Emmanuel Macron aiming to have the Notre Dame reopened in 2024.

A year on from the fire and large parts of the building remain covered in scaffolding as builders work to bring it back to its former glory.

PA

The army general in charge of rebuilding, Jean-Louis Georgelin, said the 2024 reopen date could still be achieved, despite the coronavirus lockdown, if workers are prepared to pull in some long shifts.

He said: "If everyone rolls up their sleeves and the work is well planned, it is conceivable that returning the cathedral to a place of worship within five years will not be an impossible feat.

"Obviously, the area around the cathedral will be far from finished, and perhaps the spire will not be completed, but the cathedral will once again be a place of worship and this is our aim."

PA

Shortly after inspectors deemed the structure safe to enter, the conversation quickly turned to whether to rebuild it exactly the same or have a modified version.

The roof will be restored to the way it looked before the blaze, however the French prime minister Édouard Philippe announced an architectural design competition for a new spire.

This decision has caused a bit of contention with Georgelin, who said it's best if everyone cracks on with the restoration job as quickly as possible.

He told L'Express magazine: "We have to be left to get on with the work and not caught up in the controversies.

PA

"The quicker the decision is made about the spire, the quicker we will be able to really concentrate on the real reconstruction. It's important that the objectives are set."

While loads of work has been done to make sure it's structurally sound, it's still teetering on the edge.

The building's rector, Patrick Chauvet, told the BBC: "It's still fragile. It just takes a storm, a tornado, and it will move. When the old scaffolding that is welded together is removed, then we can say the cathedral is 100 percent saved.

"Notre Dame is an 850-year-old lady. She's an injured, old lady.

"And for all the elderly, the injured, those in quarantine, or isolated in retirement homes, I think there's a symbolic link. There's no-one around Notre Dame here either; she's has been left alone, but not abandoned."

PA

More than 500 firefighters were involved in trying to save the priceless building when the blaze started on April 15 at 6:20pm.

It wasn't until 9:30am the following day that crews officially declared the fire had been extinguished.

The blaze resulted in two-thirds of the roof being destroyed, the spire gone and part of the vaulted ceiling had collapsed.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News