Half a decade after a fire swept through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, damaging large parts of the 860-year-old Gothic-style building, the world is taking a look at the painstaking restoration efforts to bring the church back to life.

French President Emmanuel Macron toured the UNESCO World Heritage site on Friday, followed by a group of photographers and journalists, enjoying the meticulous €700 million (more than $1 billion Canadian) restoration.

What a difference, he said, looking at the shiny, cleaned white stones. “This is overwhelming.”

Macron thanked the nearly 400 firefighters who “saved this cathedral” on April 15, 2019 — the day the world watched in horror as a fire that started in the roof quickly spread, sending flames and smoke rising into the sky.

Speaking to about 1,300 workers who gathered to welcome Macron and celebrate their achievements, he said: “The Notre Dame fire was a national wound and you were the cure with your determination, hard work and commitment.”

The fire destroyed the church’s steeple and roof and left heavy smoke and water damage in the main cathedral area of ​​the building.

After the fire was extinguished that day, Macron pledged to the audience, “We will rebuild the cathedral to be more beautiful, and I want its construction to be completed within five years.”

On Friday, Marcon gazed at the reconstructed soaring ceilings and new cream stonework.

The vast holes the fire had made in the vaulted ceilings were gone, leaving charred piles of debris. New stonework was carefully assembled to repair and fill wounds that had left the interior of the cathedral exposed to the elements. Delicate golden angels look out from the central part of one of the reconstructed ceilings, and seem to once again fly above the pavilion.

The cathedral’s bright, cream-colored limestone walls look brand new, cleaned not only of dust and harmful chemicals from the fire, but also of dirt that has accumulated over centuries.

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Video shows inside Notre Dame Cathedral after the cathedral caught fire

Before restoration work could begin, cleanup crews were needed to eliminate dangerous toxins and ensure the building was safe enough for tradesmen to begin their work.

Powerful vacuum cleaners were first used to remove the toxic dust released when a fire melted the cathedral’s lead roofs.

Thin layers of latex were then sprayed onto the surfaces and removed after a few days, taking dirt with them from the stones’ pores, nooks and crannies. In all, 42,000 square meters of stonework were cleaned and disinfected, an area equivalent to approximately six football fields.

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“It feels like it was built yesterday, like it was just born, even though Notre-Dame is very old,” Adrian Willem, a builder who worked on the reconstruction, told the Associated Press.

“Because it has been so carefully restored and cleaned, it looks truly exceptional.”

Craftsmen from around the world, masters of their craft, have recreated the tools used by the original builders of the nearly 900-year-old cathedral to ensure that the reconstruction exactly matches what was originally revealed when it opened in 1345.

Drag the button to see before and after photos of the altar at Notre Dame Cathedral.

“We use a combination of 13th century tools – such as broad axes or dog walkers – to finish all surfaces, and we use chisels, saws and hammers,” American carpenter Hank Silver He told NBC News In April.

“Everything is finished by hand so that the result is an almost exact replica of the Gothic frame that was once there.”

The carpenters worked like their medieval counterparts as they cut giant oak beams to rebuild the roof and tower that had collapsed like a blazing spear into hell. The beams show traces of the carpenters’ manual work, with scratches on the woodwork from their hand axes.

About 2,000 oak trees were felled to rebuild the roof structures, so dense and complex that they are nicknamed “the forest.”

Scaffolding still clings to large swaths of Notre Dame’s exterior, and cranes dot the skyline around the cathedral.

Scaffolding at the base of the newly restored tower will remain until 2025 and for another three years on the eastern side of the monument, Philippe Jost, who is managing the reconstruction, told The Associated Press.

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Notre Dame fire: Drone footage shows extent of damage

While some Parisians have expressed disappointment that the cathedral’s exterior does not yet match the new interior, Notre-Dame has been a construction site for many years — even before the fire. Scaffolding was already in place in 2019 for previous restoration efforts that were not completed due to the April 15 fire.

The opening ceremony – to which celebrities and heads of state have been invited – is scheduled for the evening of December 7, followed by days of special masses to celebrate the reopening and thank those who helped save and rebuild the cathedral.

The public will be welcome to come and view the restoration the following week, with free ticketed entry, before the cathedral returns to its usual liturgical program on 16 December.

“We are very excited to welcome the whole world under the roof of our cathedral,” Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris said in a message on the cathedral’s website, expressing the church’s gratitude to everyone who helped save it.

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‘The work of a lifetime’: Parisians and restoration workers reflect on the Notre-Dame fire 5 years later

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“On the night of April 15, hundreds of thousands of people committed to what then seemed an impossible bet: to restore the cathedral to its splendor within an unprecedented five-year deadline.”

Ulrich expects Notre Dame to quickly exceed its visitor numbers before the fire. It is preparing to receive 15 million visitors annually.

—With files from The Associated Press and Reuters

&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.