- The authorities indicated that they are in the phase of fine-tuning the details of the restorations in the religious temple of France
The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris will reopen its doors with a official ceremony on December 7which will be attended by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and guests from around the world.
On December 8, a mass will be celebrated for the faithful who wish to attend after it remained closed for more than five years of restorations following the fire that occurred on April 15, 2019.
“It is a French success, with which all French people are called to rejoice,” said the Elysée authorities when confirming the first official details of the reopening, which will also include an evening with artists and cultural personalities.
Macron will give a speech on December 7 outside the cathedral, in order to respect the principles of secularism of the State; while the religious ceremonies inside Notre Dame will be led by Laurent Ulrich, archbishop of Paris.
The Elysée noted that the reopening will have a republican character in the initial ceremony aimed at all French people and not only Catholics, due to the relevance of the temple in Paris beyond religious beliefs.
“What the French know how to do best is build, they are a town of builders,” Elysée sources highlighted to the EFE news agency.
Reopening ceremony details
The French Presidency has not confirmed the personalities invited to the reopening on December 7, but the diocese announced that it will include several heads of state.
According to the archbishop of Paris, Pope Francis will not attend the event because he wants to focus on the difficult situations that arise in the world, such as wars, violence and poverty.
“It is the way in which he considers he should exercise his ministry,” said the archbishop.
Regarding the mass on November 8, which will consecrate the cathedral and give religious continuity to the events of the previous day, the authorities confirmed that attendance will be open to the faithful of religious associations in Paris.
That same day the temple will also be partially opened to visitors, an event for which a reservation application will be enabled in advance, according to the details provided by the archbishopric.
Before all these events, Macron will visit the works of Notre Dame for the last time on November 29 to offer the world a first look at the new look of the temple, with stones of a “dazzling whiteness.”
The restoration project of the Notre Dame cathedral had a budget of 700 million euros, although the Elysée highlighted that in the coming years work must continue to be carried out on some still fragile parts of the cathedral, such as the buttresses that decorate the nave.
Details are also yet to be refined in other works such as the placement of contemporary stained glass windows in the cathedral, a process launched by the archdiocese and supported by Macron that has been full of controversies, and even campaigns to request that the old windows be respected due to because the detractors believe that they should not be changed for modern ones but rather keep the old ones that were not damaged in the fire.
New home for relics
The Notre Dame Cathedral will have a large reliquary that will house the three relics of the Passion that it kept inside: the crown of thorns, a nail from the crucifixion and a piece of wood from the cross.
This new piece of craftsmanship, made at the Fondation de Coubertin in Paris, will replace the previous crown of thorns support, which was damaged during firefighting efforts in April 2019.
The new reliquary, contemporary in style and about three meters high, is made up of a large marble drawer that stores the nail and the relic of the cross, which in turn is supported by an enormous vertical metal structure, shaped circular and covered with a multitude of crystals.
A team led by architect and designer Sylvain Dubuisson has built this handmade reliquary by working with wood, metal, glass and stone.
“With the crown of thorns in its center surrounded by numerous pieces of glass, the new reliquary will allow all visitors to get as close as possible to this relic that has been in Paris for almost eight centuries,” explained the vice-rector of the cathedral, Guillaume Normand. .
The glass pieces that surround the relic will allow the passage of light and its projection beyond the place that this work will occupy in Notre Dame, in the central axis chapel.
Notre Dame Cathedral fire and repair
On April 15, 2019, the fire alarm at Notre Dame Cathedral during the celebration of a mass. The security guards began the evacuation of the people who were in the place, but it was not until 6:43 pm when they noticed the first damage caused by the flames.
The main roof of the temple was affected, the central spire, known by the French as La Flèche (The Arrow), collapsed and two thirds of the roof were devastated because the material that supported that area was made of wood.
The French Fire Department told the media that 400 firefighters worked to put out the fire after nine hours of work.
Three months later, the French National Assembly approved the bill for the restoration and conservation of the temple located in Paris with 91 votes in favor, 8 against and 33 abstentions.
The text established the framework of the works and the formation of an exceptional control committee to ensure the correct management of the donations.
At first there was speculation about a contemporary reconstruction of the cathedral of Paris, however, Macron chose to order a restoration that was as identical as possible to the place before the fire.
In five years, craftsmen from all over the country have allowed the temple to recover its wooden roof, for which hundreds of oaks have been cut down as was done in medieval times.
The temple will now also have a modern fire-fighting system and improvements in other aspects of infrastructure.
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