Notre-Dame de Paris Rises Like a Phoenix from the Ashes

In April 2019, Parisians saw Notre-Dame de Paris, one of their most emblematic monuments and one of the world’s most elaborate examples of Gothic architecture, go up in flames. Built between 1163 and 1345, the Catholic cathedral had been desecrated once before, in 1789 during the French Revolution, and restored in the 19th century under the aegis of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Now, five years later, Notre-Dame has been brought back to life, opening its doors to the public over the weekend after an opening ceremony attended by world leaders and celebrities.

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“I have always felt close to Notre-Dame because I am Parisian, Catholic, and mostly passionate about heritage,” said Philippe Jost, the recently appointed  president of Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, the government organization responsible for the site’s conservation and restoration. “Now, it’s different, the building has almost become a part of me.”

After the fire, when President Emmanuel Macron vowed that the renovation would take only five years, many thought that timeline impossible. But thanks to the generosity of 340,000 donors and the labor of some 2,000 workers— stonemasons, roofers, carpenters, stained glass artists—the deadline was met. No sooner had the fire been contained in a few hours than €800 million ($845 million) was raised to rehabilitate the structure, whose iconic wooden spire collapsed, its roof destroyed.

France’s richest families, many of them top art collectors, stepped in: Bernard Arnault and his LVMH holding company and the Bettencourt family and its L’Oréal cosmetic empire each donated €200 million; François Pinault and TotalEnergies each gave €100 million. American donors contributed $62 million to restoration funds, making them the most generous outside France; the New York–based Starr Foundation, which focuses on cultural philanthropy, and MoMA board chair Marie-Josée Kravis and her husband Henry Kravis (through their namesake foundation) also donated $10 million each. 

That the restoration work was finished on time despite a six-month, Covid-related delay is mostly due to Jost’s rigorous managing skills, which some have attributed to his military background. “You have got to know where you are going. When you have set a course of action, you must stick to it,” he told ARTnews. “Transparency and trust are also key. We are not machines. I have worked closely with men and women who presented a united front and wanted to succeed together. You have got to be there for them, to listen carefully in order to help them if needed. This job calls for a constant attention to detail.”

Some of Jost’s management decisions at first didn’t seem to make sense, though his intentions became clear as the restoration progressed, according to sculptor Philippe Giraud, whose work on the cathedral’s stone ornaments came to be disturbed on occasion. “It was puzzling,” he said, “to see scaffoldings taken up and down to make way for carpenters, who also needed some space to do their work, but in the end we all managed to coexist just fine.”

Notre-Dame’s reconstruction plans, however, have caused controversy. French culture minister Rachida Dati proposed introducing an entrance fee that would raise funds for the preservation of some other 42,000 crumbling churches around France; she backtracked after the Archdiocese of Paris affirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to keeping churches free. Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion to commission a new spire for the cathedral was rejected in favor of an exact replica of the 315-foot one that had been destroyed in the 2019 blaze.

But the new Notre-Dame will feature some contemporary art, as Macron’s proposal to replace six stained-glass windows by Violet-le-Duc with work by the winner of an international competition was adopted. (The windows had not been damaged by the fire.) The eight finalists include Jean-Michel Alberola, Yan Pei-Ming, Daniel Buren, and Philippe Parreno. The winner, to be selected by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Macron, should be announced shortly.

The restoration project has also led to unbelievable discoveries, including 1,035 sculpted and painted fragments of the rood screen that were demolished in the 18th century. Archaeologists unveiled the remains of a 1st-century building beneath the Soufflot crypt and identified over 100 burials in total. Two lead coffins were found in the transept, one containing the remains of Antoine de la Porte, a canon of Notre-Dame who died in 1810, and French poet Joachim du Bellay, who was identified by his bone deformities and buried in the 16th century, according to analyses by the Forensic Institute of the Toulouse University Hospital.

Though Notre-Dame has reopened, its restoration is not quite complete. Phase 3 of the project includes covering the spire’s base in lead and finishing work on the cathedral’s towers, which will resume early next year. The Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris has around €140 million ($147 million) left in its coffers from the earlier donations. “A job that stays on budget, stays on time,” said Jost.

After its inauguration this past Saturday, followed by the public opening on Sunday, a succession of events will continue to celebrate Notre-Dame’s recovery. On December 11, a group of 80 people involved in the restoration will perform a rendition of French composer Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, or Chant by Jean Racine.

“We were all invited to take part in this initiative and be part of the Notre-Dame Compagnons Choir. I said yes without even thinking about my vocal skills. What a beautiful way to revive what we all call ‘the Notre-Dame spirit,’” said soprano Marie-Cécile Kfouri, who was one of the 20-some restorers responsible for the conservation of the paintings in the south and east chapels. Other participants include chemical engineer Damien Lopez, who studied the presence of lead in the runoff of rainwater, and Giraud, who is baritone and conducts a Norman choir in his free time.

“Most of our team joined in, so we quickly started to rehearse on-site,” Kfouri added in addition to their monthly off-site rehearsals. Even though Notre-Dame’s bells had stopped ringing until last Saturday, the music did not cease echoing throughout the cathedral.