Fire At Notre Dame

Notre-Dame de Paris, which means “Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris,” often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, an island in the River Seine, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral has been through a number of renovations and repairs, but none of them was as extensive as the restoration that occurred after the fire of April 2019, which destroyed the roof and collapsed the spire and damaged priceless historic artifacts.

Since the 12th – 14th century, Notre Dame Cathedral has drawn visitors who were fascinated as they walked its aisles, got up close to the columns and statues, and explored the crypts and tombs. They could even climb the 387 steps to the top of the cathedral to look at the spectacular Parisian cityscape. The cathedral was a Gothic wonder that has seen over a thousand years of human history, revolution, several wars, but it suffered its greatest blow in April 2019. On that day, a fire damaged the noted cathedral so badly that it destroyed the roof and collapsed the spire. It also damaged or destroyed priceless historic artifacts.

Following the fire, there would be a massive recovery undertaking. They had to close off large portions of the site to tourists. The towers and some of the site’s main treasures are still closed off to tourists, but restoration work continues with the hope of reopening those closed off areas in the future. In one of the most iconic scenes to play out, the spire was hoisted into place and its new cockerel of Notre-Dame de Paris installed in December 2023. Closing the cathedral was sad, but necessary to allow for extensive and costly repairs. The cathedral reopened on December 7, 2024, in a ceremony presided over by Laurent Ulrich, the Archbishop of Paris, and attended by 1,500 world leaders and dignitaries such as United States President-elect Donald Trump, United States first lady Jill Biden, Britain’s Prince William, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Pope Francis declined an invitation from Macron to attend the reopening, holding a consistory in Rome to create 21 new cardinals on that day and planning a visit to the French island of Corsica the following week. In the first month since it reopened, the cathedral brought in 80,000 people.