French President Emmanuel Macron visited Notre Dame Cathedral and confirmed the date of its opening after restoration. The cathedral is scheduled to reopen on December 8, 2024, and they want to invite Pope Francis to the ceremony, Le Monde reports.
The president arrived at the construction site of Notre Dame together with his wife, the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron. He inspected the work on the naves and choir of the cathedral and discussed future projects.
“Since April 2019, the whole nation has been rebuilding and it is very exciting to be here a year before the opening. You can see the extraordinary progress of work on this nave, choir, frames and spire," Macron noted.
In an interview with the France 2 channel, Macron said he would invite Pope Francis to attend the opening of the cathedral on December 8, 2024.
The president also announced the creation of a museum to commemorate the restoration period.
- On April 15, 2019, a large-scale fire occurred in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. It lasted more than 15 hours. As a result of the fire, the spire and roof of the cathedral collapsed.
- French investigators believe that a short circuit could have caused the fire in the cathedral. At the end of June, the Paris prosecutorʼs office said that the cause could have been a cigarette or an electrical malfunction.
- According to the investigation, the fire occurred in the area of the spire, a few hours before that, repair work was being carried out there. The flame completely destroyed the wooden roof and the spire, which fell and burned later on the floor of the cathedral. The fire was completely extinguished only in the morning of the next day — the fire lasted for more than 15 hours.