Notre Dame Cathedral is gradually regaining its iconic appearance after nearly five years of restoration work, following a massive fire that caused severe damage to the structure and collapsed its dome.
On April 15, 2019, a large-scale fire broke out in Notre Dame. The flames destroyed the monument's roof structure and then spread to the entire building. And now, 5 years later, according to the Greek channel ERT, the scaffolding surrounding most of the facade of the cathedral began to be gradually removed, and the new roof of the religious building is already visible. About 500 workers work on site every day to restore the cathedral, Europe's most visited monument. French President Emmanuel Macron said that restoration work is on schedule: the cathedral is scheduled to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024.
According to Forbes, French authorities have not yet made clear conclusions about the causes of the fire in Notre Dame, but reject the version of arson. It was reported that a national fundraiser had previously been announced for the restoration of the cathedral, with 100 million euros donated by the billionaire Pinault family.
The fire in the 850-year-old Gothic architectural monument began at about 18:30 local time, April 15, 2019, writes the BBC. The fire quickly spread to the roof of the building, destroying the cathedral's stained glass windows and wooden interior before reaching the spire. The cathedral was undergoing restoration work, and almost its entire upper part was in scaffolding.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the cathedral building, Bloomberg notes, hundreds of whom remained to watch what was happening on the nearby streets. According to the information on the cathedral's website, on weekdays it was open to the public until 18:45 local time – so the fire started right before closing.
Human casualties were avoided. The only casualty was one of the firefighters (in total about 500 people took part). The work was complicated by the inability to use helicopters, since air extinguishing could lead to a total collapse of the building.
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