Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral, badly damaged by fire in April, 2019, will re-open to visitors by the end of December 2024. The date has been confirmed by French General Jean-Louis Georgelin, the man in charge of the project.
Although visitors will be welcomed then, work will continue through at least the following year. Earlier, some ceremonies connected to the Summer Olympics may take place.
At the time of the fire, French President Macron pledged that restoration would be complete in time for the Olympics, but no one took that deadline seriously, although work has proceeded much more quickly than predicted by many who thought it might take 15 to 20 years.
Work on reconstruction began in earnest last year, after two years of work removing debris including toxic lead and then stabilizing the building. This year’s major visible change will be the construction of a replacement for the cathedral’s iconic 19th-century spire. Georgelin told press that “The return of the spire in Paris’ sky will, in my opinion, be the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame.”
In the meantime, a new exhibit on the reconstruction, replacing the posters and other material lining the construction fence around the building, has opened in a portion of the underground crypt in front of the building.
