The restored “splendor” of Notre-Dame de Paris revealed during Macron’s final visit

Photo: Christophe Petit Tesson Pool via Associated Press French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech Friday inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is set to reopen to the public.

Francesco Fontemaggi – Agence France-Presse in Paris

Published at 7:40 Updated at 7:47

• Europe

Notre-Dame de Paris revealed to the world on Friday its “splendor” found five years after the devastating fire of April 2019, thanks to a final visit to the site by Emmanuel Macron who intends to boast of having met his “insane challenge” of reopening in five years.

“It's sublime,” exclaimed the head of state upon discovering the reconstructed cathedral in all its whiteness and length, during a stroll broadcast live on several French and international channels. “It is much more hospitable with this blond stone,” cleaned of the dirt accumulated over the decades, he added, assuring the speakers that they could “be proud.”

A full week before the grand reopening and the return of the public, the weekend of December 7 and 8, the president wrote, in a document distributed to the media this week, that this “project of the century” was a “challenge that many considered insane and that we are going to meet.”

In a bad position politically, Emmanuel Macron is banking heavily on this event, which he has elevated to the rank of “French pride” with the successful Olympic Games last summer.

He has invited a large number of foreign leaders next weekend in the hope of making it a global event, but the list of those present is not yet known, and Pope Francis has preferred to go to Corsica a week later rather than Paris.

“The president's advisers hope that he will relaunch himself with Notre-Dame,” but “he will only gain political capital in the long term,” whispers a close friend of Emmanuel Macron.

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Photo: Christophe Petit Tesson Pool via Associated Press 2,000 people contributed to the reconstruction of the cathedral.

1300 contributors present

The latter had hoped for a time to speak in the cathedral when it reopened, but after tough negotiations with the diocese, he will speak only on the forecourt.

It was therefore this Friday that he spoke in Notre-Dame, for a speech of thanks during which he extolled “French know-how”, a “collective success”, a “chapter of which we can be proud”.

All 2000 people who contributed to the work were invited, of whom more than 1300 are present, wood, metal and stone craftsmen, scaffolders and roofers, bell-makers, gilders, sculptors and architects. Patrons are also in the spotlight, as the project of the century, which cost some 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations.

In a journey of around ten stations, from the forecourt to the framework, passing through the nave, the transept crossing and the Saint-Marcel chapel, the visit has been designed to show the main achievements of this titanic project. Quite a symbol, the stop at the base of the spire, rebuilt identically to that of Viollet-le-Duc which had collapsed on April 15, 2019 in front of the world, raising a wave of global emotion.

Photo: Michel Euler Associated Press The fire of April 2019 had ravaged in particular the roof and the framework of this masterpiece of Gothic art of the 12th century, which is among the most visited monuments in Europe.

The stroll was punctuated by presidential comments. “The altar imposes itself but does not overwhelm,” he whispers in the nave, “it's a real forest,” “this tangle is incredible,” he judges under the framework.

The Élysée, in presenting this visit to the press, did not skimp on superlatives, using the word “brilliance” no less than twenty times.

“Amazement,” “striking” view, “fireworks of colors”: the presidential advisers promised a breathtaking spectacle, and a striking contrast with the “gaping vault,” the “charred waste” and the “unbearable” smell that Emmanuel Macron had discovered on the evening of the fire.

“You see the cathedral as you have never seen it before,” “five years after the vision of desolation,” said Philippe Jost, the person in charge of the restoration, during the visit. “I remember as if it were yesterday the Pietà that alone emerged” from the rubble, replied the president, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron and the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich.

The flames, the causes of which have still not been determined, had notably ravaged the roof and the framework of this masterpiece of 12th-century Gothic art, which is one of the most visited monuments in Europe.