Two years after the Notre-Dame fire, Emmanuel Macron outlined the cathedral’s impressive reconstruction site by “completing immense work”. It must be returned for worship by April 16, 2024, even if that site is not complete.

But “we are also looking at the next three years because we must meet our objectives and therefore have a very large mobilization of very demanding and rigorous planning”, added the head of state, publicly returning to the scene for the first time since 15 On April, 2019, the roof and the peak were destroyed by the flames.

He said, “This is a message of collective pride because we have done so much in two years and we have avoided the worst. So many thanks to all those who have been mobilized by thousands”.

Site not completed in five years

Soon after the tragedy, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to rebuild it in five years. A year later, in a video message, he renewed the promise for the first time despite impediments to the construction site during imprisonment.

But the site will not be completed in five years. On the other hand, the monument should be sent back to worship by April 16, 2024, the day the first mass celebration should be held in December 2020, announced by General Georgelyn, president of the public establishment responsible for the reconstruction of the cathedral Had. “We will meet the deadline” of 2024, confirmed the normalcy on Thursday morning at France Inter.

He also revealed his return one more time with the president, “one evening in a very judicious manner, Notre-Dame” a few weeks after the fire.

With an elevator, Emanuel Macron climbed the high floors of Notre-Dame. 47 meters high, in the middle of Paris, on a platform around the domed ceiling, he saw staff working on ropes, stunned, masonry unstable stones to secure the vaults of the heart. An essential step before installing secure scaffolding.

340,000 donors

The President was to meet the teams mobilized for this phase of securing, before his reconstruction. A moment of thanks to “all those who work to rebuild it (carpenter, scaffolding, rope use technician, crane operator, organ builder, master glassmaker, restorer in painting and sculpture, stoner, archaeologist and researcher”, But still “all of them”, according to Elysee, have made the project possible to save the cathedral from the flames, as well as 340,000 charities around the world.

He is accompanied by Culture Minister Rosaline Baghelot, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, Chief Architect of Historical Monuments Philippe Villanueve, Mug Michel Appetit, Archbishop of Paris, Mug Eric Aumonier, representing the Diocese of Paris. And the rector of the cathedral, Mgr Patrick Chauvet.

Some 833 million euros (920 million francs) were collected for this restoration thanks to national and international fundraising.