Five years after being ravaged by fire, Notre-Dame Cathedral has returned to its former splendour months ahead of its planned reopening, participants in a recent visit to the monument said.
The fire at the UNESCO-listed cathedral, which used to welcome 12 million visitors a year, shocked the world on April 15, 2019.
But now, the interior of the cathedral is at its most luminous in living memory, visitors said.
“It is wonderful to see these colours that had completely disappeared,” said Guillaume Normand, vice rector of Notre-Dame, as he inspected the completely restored chapel. “Stunning,” he said.
When the public returns to Notre-Dame in December they will get an “unequalled perception of its dimension”, added the cathedral’s rector, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas. He said he was “humbled” in the face of “those who created, preserved or saved it, and those who are now restoring it”.
Ongoing work is on track to meet the December deadline for re-opening, the head of the reconstruction said last month.
The monument already had a key moment in February when scaffolding came off around its spire, which authorities say will be fully visible by the time the Paris Summer Olympics kick off in July. The spire has been covered in lead, a material that has caused much debate because of its potential toxicity.
Initially, President Emmanuel Macron promised the building would be fully restored by the time the Olympics open, but the date was pushed back after restoration work hit several snags.
