When Notre Dame finally re-opens, it will have a new setting around it, featuring new green spaces, a re-connection to the river and new underground visitor facilities, according to a new plan announced by Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The project, scheduled for completion in phases by 2027, preserves the familiar open plaza in front of the cathedral, but surrounds it with temperature-lowering trees and turns an underground garage below it into a visitor center that will have a gallery open to the river on one side, and to the Archaeological Crypt of Roman ruins on the other.
Several pieces of parkland that are now separate and fenced off will be joined into one, including the John XXIII park behind the building and the strips between the cathedral and the river. The park will extend all the way to the Deportation Memorial at the end of the island.
One unique feature that will likely be appreciated on hot days: a stream of water, a fifth of an inch deep, will play across the square on hot days, reducing temperature for all.
