The Remarkable Notre Dame: An Unbelievable Timeline to Reopening.

When you think of Paris, what comes to mind? The Eiffel Tower? The Louvre? Endless bookshops? Baguettes? Berets? Cute little corner cafes? … Notre Dame?

I confess the majority of my familiarity with the Cathedral of Notre Dame comes from the Disney movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This basically means I knew nothing about it other than the fact that it was on my list of must-sees (I love church architecture), it’s in Paris, enormous, gorgeous, and many cathedrals across Europe are modeled after it (thank you, Ken Follett). Oh, and it burned in a horrible fire in 2019. 🙁 So imagine my cathedral-loving glee when we stumbled upon an outdoor exhibition at the Cathedral while it was undergoing its massive renovation following the fire. And here I was just banking on imagining it through scaffolding.

The construction of Notre Dame began in 1163 under the reign of Louis VII and was mostly completed by 1350. That’s almost 200 years of construction! I could bore you to death with all the details of its construction, why it was built the way it was, the materials used, the craftsmanship, the reasons for every single feature, and why a stone building had a flammable roof – but I won’t (Jason says: you’re welcome). Even though I REALLY want to – nerd alert. I’ll just post some of the photos I took of the boards and you can decide for yourself how interested you are and zoom in (or not). Deal? Deal.

What I will tell you is in the fire in 2019 the entire wood and lead roof and spire burned, then collapsed into the vaulted stone ceilings below, collapsing a portion of the vaulted stone ceiling and showering debris into the nave of the church. Suddenly the nave was open to the heavens for the first time in centuries. Once the fire was put out, support poured in from around the globe to restore the cathedral. After two years of careful inspection, planning, and cleaning, the restoration began in 2021.

Now how about this shocker – they plan to have the roof and spire completed in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris!  I was completely floored to read that. How in the world? The building is currently covered in scaffolding and wide open to the heavens! They’ve barely finished removing the debris from the fire, shoring up the walls, and cleaning the fire damage. As I read a little farther along the board displays surrounding the cathedral, I learned that the intent is for the outside of the building to be complete (or at least look that way) in time for the Olympics. The inside will not be completed until December 2024 (or later) to be open for services and tours, but I would imagine you will be able to find plenty of tours of the façade and someone willing to bore you with the details of why it is the way it is next summer. Woo! 😊

Who is headed to France for the Olympics? Or just for the summer in 2024? I’ll need an update! I’m completely blown away by how quickly they plan to have this completed, especially since it looks like they’re planning to use the original medieval plans (thankfully) and building techniques (amazing) to do it. There are obviously many 21st-century construction capabilities in use alongside the medieval techniques, from power tools to gas-powered cranes and metal scaffolding. However, the scale of the damage was immense, and the details being reproduced are so intricate that I just can’t believe the quick restoration rate even with our modern tools. When you’re there standing next to the building and get a sense of the sheer magnitude of its size, this really becomes an almost unimaginable timeline.

We later learned once we were home there is also an underground exhibition in front of the cathedral with artifacts from the fire and things that have been discovered in the restoration process (mysterious sarcophagi). This exhibition is currently open and there are plans for it to remain open through the Olympics next summer. I’m sure that would have been fascinating as well. It looks like we’ll be planning a return trip to Paris sometime in the future!

So, is Notre Dame open? Well, kind of. There’s plenty to see as you walk around the outside, surveying the damage and impressive plans to get it back in tip-top shape. But if you’re wanting to explore the interior, you’ll have to wait a little longer. In the meantime, if anyone is headed there soon, let me know! I’m very curious how the restoration progresses and turns out!