Georgelin in 2021 was confident that the restoration would be able to meet Macron’s proposed five-year working schedule. “The deadlines will be met!” he said that year during a media interview. The cathedral is scheduled to be reopened in 2024.
Notre Dame was undergoing repairs in April 2019 when the fire broke out from what investigators said was likely an electrical short-circuit or possibly a worker’s cigarette.
The fire destroyed the building’s 1859 spire and most of the church’s roof, with some of the building’s walls suffering significant structural damage.
Debate immediately began as to whether the cathedral would be restored as it looked before the fire or if it would be updated with modern architectural designs and flourishes atop the ancient portion of the church.
The French Parliament subsequently enacted a law mandating that the reconstruction must “preserve the historic, artistic, and architectural interest” of the original structure.
The cathedral’s origins stretch back to the 1160s, when workers began construction of it under Bishop Maurice de Sully. The first primary phase of construction lasted roughly a century, until 1260.