Two and a half years after a fire ravaged the centuries-old Cathedral of Notre-Dame in the heart of Paris, the building has been secured enough to start the rebuilding process, which is expected to be completed in 2024, according to the French authorities. Stabilizing the 850-year-old cathedral was a daunting task, as the French authorities had to dismantle scaffolding and clear the debris that lay heaped on the floor, among other tasks, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, a former army chief of staff whom President Emmanuel Macron placed in charge of the restoration, said on Saturday. “We’re officially saying that the cathedral is now saved, that it’s solid on its pillars, that its walls are solid,” General Georgelin, who leads the government’s Notre-Dame restoration task force, told the French broadcaster BFM-TV. The task force, called Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, or Rebuild Notre-Dame, said in a statement on Facebook on Saturday that the cathedral was on track to reopen in 2024, meeting Mr. Macron’s ambitious five-year deadline to open the Gothic landmark the same year that Paris was set to host the Summer Olympics.

Source: New York Times September 19, 2021 00:00 UTC