MADRID 29 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, visited Notre Dame this Friday, just several days after its official reopening to the public and five years after the devastating fire that burned the Parisian Gothic cathedral in an incident that shocked the entire country.
The president, who has highlighted the restoration work on the property, has applauded the workers’ ability to “transform coal into art.” In a televised tour that lasted two hours, Macron recalled what happened as a “national wound.”
“You were the healing with your commitment and work,” he said during a speech from the iconic temple, from where he thanked hundreds of people for their participation in the reconstruction and restoration work.
This visit marks the first time that the results of the work carried out are shown to the public and takes place just nine days before its official reopening, scheduled for December 8.
After the cathedral caught fire in 2019, Macron promised not only to rebuild it over a five-year period but to “make it even more beautiful” than it was before the tragedy. Now, from the Elysée, they assure that this objective “has been met.”
Around 250 companies and hundreds of experts have mobilized to carry out a restoration process that has cost around 700 million euros for what has already been called “the work of the century.”