PARIS (OSV News) — Scaffolding has been removed from the newly erected spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, and work on rebuilding the interior of France’s most iconic church, home to priceless relics, is proceeding at full speed. , the tourist destination visited by millions of people a year, reopened on December 8th.
Father Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the cathedral’s rector and principal priest, told OSV News on April 10, just ahead of the cathedral’s final anniversary before its reopening after the April 15, 2019 fire. “We’re going to do everything in a hurry over the next few months,” he said. .
But Father Ribadeau-Dumas looks to the future with optimism. A former rector of the Lourdes sanctuary, he was appointed rector of Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2022, three years after the fire. Therefore, he has not yet experienced peacetime cathedral life.
“In April 2019, I was the spokesperson for the French Bishops’ Conference and throughout the night of the fire I was fielding journalists calling from all over the world,” he told OSV News. .
“Today I am not interested in commemorating the five years since the fire. What I am really looking forward to is getting everything ready so that we can celebrate Mass once we reopen,” he said. I did.
“For now, the large scaffolding structure still occupies the place of the ‘liturgical stage’, on which the altar, ‘cathedral’ (bishop’s seat) and ambo will be placed. And this bronze ‘furniture’ has just come out of the foundry,” he said.
Additionally, the production of 1,500 new wooden chairs is progressing at a rapid pace, and the installation of lighting is also progressing at the same time. “Lighting is very important,” Father Ribadeau-Dumas said. “It has a double dimension. We must illuminate the “liturgical stage” according to the liturgical moment. We don’t set fire to Good Friday in the same way we celebrate Easter. This lighting must then be harmonized with the rest of the cathedral. It’s not that simple. ”
What excited France in the last weeks before the anniversary was an invitation to bid for the job of creating new stained glass windows for the Paris Cathedral. New stained glass windows will be installed in six of his seven chapels on the Seine side of the south aisle of the nave. Candidates will be paired with an artist/designer and a glass studio.
The commission set up by the French government was established at the request of Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich and was formally approved by President Emmanuel Macron on December 8, 2023. However, critics pointed out that this new art was intended to replace the cathedral itself. , but still historic – the so-called “grisaille” windows installed in Notre-Dame in the 19th century by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who restored Notre-Dame at the time.
The Grisailles, personally designed by Viollet-le-Duc, are windows whose glass is painted in only a single neutral shade, and have become a natural part of the cathedral for many years.
A petition signed by some 140,000 people calling for the preservation of Viollet-le-Duc’s projects says his colorful windows were “created as a coherent whole”. This is an authentic piece of work where the architects wanted to stay true to the cathedral’s Gothic origins. ”
“Notre Dame Cathedral has evolved over the centuries,” Father Ribadeau Dumas told OSV News, defending the archbishop’s idea to house contemporary artists’ projects in its place. “The idea was to show how[the cathedral]was damaged in the early 21st century and then revived,” he explained. “
The archbishops’ request is that “these stained glass windows are figurative, evoking joy, hope and peace and testifying to the extraordinary atmosphere that prevailed during the restoration work,” the pastor said. .
The winner of the bid will present a prototype closer to the cathedral’s reopening. The stained glass windows will be created in 2025 and installed in the cathedral in 2026.
But what tourists and Parisians are most looking forward to is the 315-foot-tall spire, designed by Viollet-le-Duc and rebuilt in exactly the same way as its predecessor. The removal of the spire’s scaffolding in mid-February is a visible sign that the end of Notre Dame’s restoration work is nearing.
Craftsmen from Le Bras Frères, a family-run company specializing in the restoration of roofs and frames of historic buildings, have been working on the cathedral’s roof since 2023 in their workshop in Lorraine, eastern France. The lead ornaments had to be sized to match the shape of the roofing material.
Julien Le Blas, the company’s president, told OSV News: “We were building a replica of the spire’s skeleton in our workshop, so even before the carpenters finished work on the cathedral itself, we were able to start making the main parts. We were able to start.” It was “a real feat,” he said.
For Le Blas, completing the work is all the more important because his company was on the brink of disaster after the 2019 fire. In 2017, Lebras His Freres was proud to have won the tender for scaffolding installation and construction. The planned conservation project will renovate the spire’s wooden frame and external roof. However, the project came to an abrupt halt due to a fire in 2019, and the company became the focus of attention as it was suspected of being responsible for the fire.
“This tragedy has devastated everyone, especially those of us who are passionate about our heritage and whose job it is to preserve, restore and beautify it,” Le Blas told OSV News, adding that the accusations have devastated them. He cited the impact it had not only on the project but also on the employees. “Customers have become reluctant, suppliers want to terminate their contracts, and insurance companies no longer want to cover our projects,” he said. “This fire is weighing heavily on us.”
Le Blas Frères was found not responsible for the fire, and the report said they had carefully followed precautionary procedures. After the hellish catastrophe of 2019, Le Blas employees were called upon to ensure the safety of the ruined cathedral. “We got to work right away,” Le Blas said. “We had to secure the gables, support the vaults and reinforce the buttresses. We were responsible for dismantling the unstable scaffolding,” he said.
“Even though we were being dragged through the mud in the media, the workers held their hearts high and started working bravely,” Rubra said.
In September 2022, Le Bras Frères was once again selected for the scaffolding and part of the carpentry and roofing work of the cathedral. “It wasn’t just a job,” Le Blas said. “It was a marathon, a challenge for the president, and a mission. The craftsmen were highly motivated. They wanted to honor themselves and their company in the eyes of everyone, and they wanted to do something for the country and the cathedral. I was proud to work for.”
“My heart’s desire is to be able to welcome visitors,” Father Ribadeau-Dumas confessed. “Notre Dame Cathedral is a place of worship visited by 15 million people each year. As a priest, I strive above all to enable these people to encounter Christ. “This can be done through the witness of faith in the Mass, which is celebrated during the continuance of the church,” he told OSV News.
“It’s also through the beauty of the artwork that says something about the presence of God,” he says. “So we prepare a lot of explanations to help people who are unfamiliar with our faith understand its meaning. That is the purpose of all our efforts.”
“I hope that this reopening will be an occasion for France’s spiritual awakening,” Father Ribadeau-Dumas concluded.
“Today, Western society is in a chaotic and often hopeless situation. In this context, the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral is a great sign of hope. It’s not just about the hope it represents, it should be an inspiration to everyone excited about reopening.”
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