Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will reopen in December 2024, according to the French leaders in charge of the project.
“My job is to be ready to open this cathedral in 2024. And we will do it,” Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin said Monday. “We are fighting every day for that and we are on a good path.”
The French have been working constantly to repair the landmark since it was severely damaged in a fire on April 15, 2019.
President Emmanuel Macron had said he wanted the cathedral to be open for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but that remains unlikely.
Instead, tourists will be allowed to visit a free underground exhibition in front of the cathedral. That exhibition, titled “Notre-Dame de Paris: at the heart of the construction site,” is set to open Tuesday. It includes remains from the fire and artwork from the cathedral, while also highlighting the construction project.
Though Notre Dame is expected to reopen for visitors and faithful alike in 2024, rehabilitation work will continue into 2025, according to French Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak.
Reconstruction of the cathedral’s recognizable spire, which collapsed in the 2019 fire, will begin this year.
“The return of the spire in Paris’ sky will in my opinion be the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame,” Georgelin said.
Multiple factors combined to create the project’s lengthy timeline. It took more than two years to secure and stabilize Notre Dame after the blaze. Additionally, the reconstructors insisted on recreating the structure exactly as it was built in the 12th century. An estimated 1,000 people throughout France work on the project daily.
“The biggest challenge is to comply precisely every day to the planning we have done,” Georgelin said. “We have a lot of different works to achieve: the framework, the painting, the stones, the vault, the organ, the stained glass and so on.”