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Work has begun to remove the scaffolding around the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Parisian cathedral partially devastated by the fire of 15 April 2019: this is what those responsible for the work reported by France Presse, specifying that the dismantling campaign ”it started a few days ago”, and the spire should be visible again, as expected, by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (26 July-11 August). The tip of the spire – designed in the nineteenth century by the architect Eugène Viollet-Le Duc and now rebuilt identical to the original – is already visible to the naked eye, surmounted by the crown, the cross and the emblematic golden rooster once again soaring glittering in the sky Paris.
Built by the workers of ‘Europe Echafaudage’, the impressive scaffolding ‘weighing 600 tons, made up of 70,000 metal pieces, culminated at a height of one hundred metres. It included 48 levels, closely connected to the cathedral, the sources specify. More than four years after the fire, the masterpiece of Gothic art is gradually regaining the beauty of the past thanks to an army of workers, craftsmen, restorers and restorers who have worked despite a thousand constraints and difficulties – starting with the risks linked to dust of lead – to clean and reclaim it.
Before the fire, the cathedral, symbol of France and among the most emblematic places in Europe, welcomed 12 million visitors, 2,400 religious services and 150 concerts annually. The shipyard can count on an unprecedented surge of solidarity, with donations from all over the world amounting to 844 million euros. The reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris is scheduled for December 8, 2024, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.