Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral reopens

PARIS - The iconic Notre Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris will reopen on Saturday. Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani will join dozens of world leaders for the event. 

The historic building caught fire in 2019. The main steeple and its stained glass windows were destroyed, though the structure of the body of the church survived. Thousands of craftsmen and engineers worked on the restoration that cost a reported 700 million euros.
 
Ghislain Claebut, from Belgium, was part of the team that renovated the walls and ceiling. 

“As part of this work, I restored here the two points of the transept that you see behind me. Ultimately, over there, the upper part, I restored all of this upper part over there at the top. So, it's the restoration of the stone. And we ultimately had to change 220 m3 of stone, very elaborate. It's a very beautiful piece of architecture, of stone, yes,” he told Rudaw. 

“It's a very beautiful piece of architecture… What was complicated in this work is that it had to be done in a very short time. We had to do it very quickly. We did it in 18 months. So, it's very short. We had to mobilize a large part of our staff to do this project. And high-quality staff to do this beautiful work,” he added. 

The first stone was laid in 1163. The cathedral went through major restorations and additions were made in the 17th and 18th centuries. 
 
Benjamin Truchot, safety engineer at Enneris Institute, said the cathedral will never again be destroyed by flames. 

“Notre Dame now is very safe. We designed the most efficient fire safety system with a firewall, with automatic extinction system, by the water mist. So I can say that every fire ignition will be stopped quite immediately and we will never see again the fire we saw in 2019,” the engineer said. 

“Such a building, you should design fire safety measures that cannot be seen. If you go into the church you will not see anything. Everything is more or less invisible but very efficient and it was probably the most important challenge in this work,” noted Truchot. 

Adel Bakawan is director of the French Centre for Research on Iraq (CFRI). He told Rudaw that the reopening of Notre-Dame is not just a French affair, but a global gathering that underscores France's resilience and continued influence, even amid political and social challenges. 

"While political turmoil has led to the dissolution of the government and President Macron navigating a fractured political landscape, this event shows France's enduring global role,” he said. 

"The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is not only a symbol of the French Republic but of all of Europe… In religious terms, around three billion people are expected to focus on France during its reopening. Additionally, the presence of world leaders at the reopening ceremony adds another layer of historic importance,” said Bakawan.