Notre Dame Cathedral unveils its new interior 5 years after a devastating fire

On November 30, 2024By Littum

PARIS (AP) – After more than five years of frantic but sometimes interrupted reconstruction work, Notre Dame Cathedral reappeared to the world on Friday, with rebuilt soaring ceilings and creamy good-as-new stonework erasing gloomy memories of its devastating fire in 2019.

Pictures broadcast live from a visit to the site by French President Emmanuel Macron showed the inside of the iconic cathedral as worshipers might have experienced it in previous centuries, its wide open space filled with bright light on a crisp and sunny winter day that lit up in the vibrant colors of the stained glass windows.

Outside is the monument still a construction sitewith scaffolding and cranes. But the renovated interior – shown in its full glory on Friday for the first time before the public is allowed back in on December 8 – proved breathtaking.

Windows at the heart of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral are seen as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the monument’s restored interior, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Stephane de Sakutin, Pool via AP)

Stonemasons fixed the torn ceilings

People stand outside the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s final visit to the construction site to view the restored interior before the iconic monument reopens for worship on Dec. 8 (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

A man takes a picture of Notre Dame Cathedral as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the renovated cathedral, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Gone are the gaping holes that the flame tore into the vaulted ceilings, leaving charred piles of debris. New stonework has been painstakingly pieced together to repair and fill the wounds that had left the interior of the cathedral exposed to the elements. Delicate golden angels look on from the center of one of the rebuilt ceilings, and they seem to fly again over the transept.

The bright, cream-colored limestone walls of the cathedral look brand new, cleaned not only of dust from the fire, but also of dirt that had accumulated over centuries.

The cathedral attracted millions of worshipers and visitors annually until, on April 15, 2019, fire forced its closure, turning the monument in the heart of Paris into a no-go zone except for craftsmen, architects and others mobilized for the reconstruction.

The tabernacle of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is seen as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the monument’s restored interior, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Stephane de Sakutin, Pool via AP)

The vaulted ceiling of Notre-Dame cathedral is seen as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the monument’s restored interior, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)

Varias personas realizan un recorrido and the interior de la cathedral de Notre-Dame de Paris duration a visit by the French president Emmanuel Macron, el viernes 29 de noviembre de 2024 in Paris. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he visits the restored interior of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

Macron entered through the cathedral’s gigantic and intricately carved front doors and gazed up at the ceilings in wonder. He was accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, the Archbishop of Paris and others.

New and old techniques implemented

Powerful vacuum cleaners were used to first remove toxic dust released when the fire melted the cathedral’s lead roof.

Fine layers of latex were then sprayed onto the surfaces and removed a few days later, taking dirt with it from the stones’ pores, nooks and crannies. In total, 42,000 square meters of stonework were cleaned and decontaminated – an area equivalent to around six football pitches.

“It feels like it was built yesterday, like it was just born, even though Notre Dame is very old,” said stonemason Adrien Willeme, who worked on the reconstruction. “Because it has been so carefully restored and cleaned, it looks truly extraordinary.”

Cleaning gels were also used on some walls that had been painted, removing years of accumulated grime and revealing their bright colors again.

Carpenters work by hand like their medieval counterparts when they hewed huge oak beams to rebuild the roof and spire, which collapsed like a flaming spear into the inferno. The beams show the marks of the carpenters’ handiwork, with dents made in the woodwork by their handaxes.

Around 2,000 oak trees were felled to rebuild the roof frames so dense and intricate that they are nicknamed “the forest”.

Part of the nave and organ of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is seen as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the restored interior of the cathedral, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Stephane de Sakutin, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, third right, and his wife Brigitte Macron visit the restored interior of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP)

It’s a sneak peek before the reopening

Macron’s visit set in motion a series of events heralding the reopening of the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece. At the end of his tour, the president addressed hundreds of workers gathered inside the cathedral, thanking them for their work on what he called the “construction site of the century.”

“The shock of the reopening will, I believe, be as strong as the shock of the fire. But it will be a shock of hope,” he said. “The Inferno of Notre Dame was a wound to the nation. And you were its remedy.”

Macron will return on December 7 to give another speech and will take part in the inauguration of the new altar during a solemn mass the following day.

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Associated Press video journalist Marine Lesprit contributed to this report.