Around 6:20 p.m., Monday April 15, 2019, a gigantic fire broke out at Notre-Dame de Paris and partially destroyed the cathedral. The flames caused the collapse of its frame, its famous spire, its clock and part of its vault, under the dumbfounded gaze of millions of people around the world. Firefighters put out the fire around 4 a.m. the next day, Tuesday, April 16.
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An unprecedented outpouring of generosity will follow. More than 840 million euros in donations have been collected from 340,000 donors from 150 countries, according to the public establishment in charge of the restoration project.
► On April 16, 2019, Emmanuel Macron promises that Notre-Dame will be rebuilt within five years
The day after the fire, Emmanuel Macron addresses the French and promises that the cathedral will be rebuilt “within five years”. The President appoints General Jean-Louis Georgelin, former Chief of the Armed Forces under Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, in charge of “ensure the progress of the procedures and work that will be undertaken”.
Work began the same day with the securing of the building (bending of the 28 flying buttresses, dismantling of the scaffolding which surrounded the spire, clearing of the rubble, depollution of the 450 tonnes of lead partially vaporized into the atmosphere, etc.).
He was suspended twice. A first time in the summer of 2019, due to lead contamination. Then in March 2020, due to the coronavirus epidemic.
► The preliminary investigation closed on June 26, 2019
The very evening when Notre-Dame caught fire, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation for “involuntary destruction by fire” to determine the causes. The survey closed on June 26, 2019. “There is no evidence to support the hypothesis of a criminal origin”, then declares the Paris prosecutor, referring to the track “a malfunction in the electrical system or that of a fire starting caused by a poorly extinguished cigarette”.
At the same time, the prosecutor announces the opening of a judicial investigation against X for “involuntary damage by fire by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of prudence or safety”.
The tragedy remains unsolved to this day. The investigations, carried out by the criminal brigade under the direction of three Parisian investigating judges, are still in progress and have still not made it possible to establish with certainty the cause of the fire.
► On July 9, 2020, the restoration of the cathedral to the same is validated
More than a year after the fire, on July 9, 2020, the National Heritage and Architecture Commission (CNPA) unanimously approved the study and the restoration project presented by the chief architect of monuments history, Philippe Villeneuve. The same day, Emmanuel Macron also announced that he was in favor of an identical restoration.
► September 18, 2021, end of security work
On September 18, 2021, the phase of securing and consolidating the monument ends. A major step that will have cost 151 million euros. Restoration work can now be fully started, even if it has already started in craft workshops all over France.
→ REREAD. The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris will begin
The great organ, the largest in France, dating from 1733, was spared the fire but covered in lead dust. It has been dismantled, like the stained glass windows, and is being cleaned like 22 large-format paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, while several statues, already restored, are on display at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris.
We will have to wait a little longer for the launch of the reconstruction work on the medieval framework of the nave, the choir and the spire of Viollet-le-Duc, with a solid oak wood frame. It should again appear in the sky of Paris from the spring of 2023, according to the public establishment.
► The cathedral must be returned to worship on April 16, 2024
Due to delays due to Covid-19 and lead, construction is expected to take longer than originally announced. But the cathedral must be returned to worship on April 16, 2024, exactly five years after the date of the fire. A mass must be celebrated there in the nave, General Georgelin announced at the end of 2020.