notre dame cathedral tours after fire

What Notre Dame Cathedral Looks Like Months After Fire

N early three months after a fire gutted Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the building’s chief architect has warned that there is still a risk that the historic building’s ceiling arches might yet collapse , causing severe structural damage.

“The risk is that all the vaults up there fall. It is that simple,” says Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of Notre Dame, who led TIME on a tour of the fire-ravaged cathedral . “For the moment we do not know because no one has gone to see them, because you cannot go and see them.”

The man responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of Notre Dame says the risks of a catastrophic collapse are small but that the true extent of the damage will not be known until at least the end of the year. Until then, it will remain a triage site.

Those assessing Notre Dame’s damage are working to a tight deadline: President Emmanuel Macron has declared that the building should be rebuilt within five years . But Villeneuve says there remain some deeply worrying unknowns about what state Notre Dame is in, especially as the building’s interior is now open to the elements. “We do not know if there are fissures or fractures,” he says.

A milestone for Notre Dame: One year until cathedral reopens to public after devastating fire

Macron will tour the fenced-off reconstruction site where stonemasons, carpenters and hundreds of other artisans are hammering away to meet the 12-month deadline.

When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. But as the world-famous Paris landmark’s reopening draws closer, they are beginning to picture their return to the place they call home and are impatient to breathe life back into its repaired stonework and vast spaces.

The restoration of Notre Dame hits a milestone Friday: one year until the cathedral reopens its huge doors to the public , on Dec. 8, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will don a hard hat and tour the fenced-off reconstruction site where stonemasons, carpenters and hundreds of other artisans are hammering away to meet the 12-month deadline.

When their job is done, they will hand over to Notre Dame’s priests, employees, chorists and worshippers. With prayers, songs and devotion, they’ll give the cathedral the kiss of life and celebration to nudge aside the pain the April 15, 2019, blaze inflicted on French hearts and Catholic faithful around the world.

Notre Dame is “not the biggest cathedral nor perhaps the most beautiful,” the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, its rector, told The Associated Press this week, but “it is the incarnation of a nation’s soul.”

“The expectations, the preparations for the reopening are a magnificent sign of hope in a difficult world,” he said.

Henri Chalet, the principal choir conductor, already has butterflies at the thought. On one hand, he tells himself that in the 850-plus-year history of Notre Dame, its closure is just a blip and he needs to be patient a little longer. But for a human lifetime, “five years is very long,” he said, and “unfortunately, in 850 years, it fell on us.”

“We are obviously impatient to be able to go back,” he said. “It really is our home, in the sense that we were there every evening for services and also for concerts every week.

“Now, we really feel there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said, “with a lot of joy, enthusiasm and a little stress.”

On the reconstruction side, recent progress has been remarkable. Huge oak beams, put together using carpentry techniques pioneered when Notre Dame was built in medieval times, have been hoisted skyward so the cathedral can be re-roofed. The towering spire now points once more toward the heavens, rebuilt piece by piece behind 600 tons of scaffolding.

When Macron visits, the name of the retired French general who led the big-budget restoration before his death will be carved in tribute in the wood of the spire. Jean-Louis Georgelin died in August, at 74.

And when Olympic visitors descend on Paris in their millions for the Summer Games opening July 26, the rebuilt spire and roof should be complete, giving the cathedral a finished look from outside.

Work inside will continue. Jobs in the final months will include tuning the cathedral’s thunderous 8,000-pipe grand organ, France’s largest musical instrument. It survived the fire but had to be dismantled, cleaned of toxic lead dust generated when the roofing burned, and reassembled. Renovations will continue after the reopening.

The cathedral’s own workforce also is being scaled back up. It was cut to seven employees because of closure for repairs. Dumas, the rector, said a hiring drive next year will restore the number of full-time employees to nearly 50, to welcome back the 15 million annual visitors and worshippers the Paris diocese is bracing for.

Chorist Adrielle Domerg, who was 10 when she joined Notre Dame’s choirs and is now 17, said the cathedral is “almost a person” to her.

“A multitude of people, of dreams, of prayers gave birth to it,” said Domerg, who last sang there with her choir days before the blaze and aches to do so again.

“It’s going to be very emotional,” she said. “The cathedral, in a way, will reawaken and we will pull it out of the shadows.”

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Notre Dame's new spire revealed in Paris, marking a milestone in cathedral's reconstruction after fire

February 13, 2024 / 4:51 PM EST / CBS/AP

Scaffolding that covered the top of Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire in April 2019 is being removed, marking a milestone in its reconstruction . 

As the shell at the summit has been taken down in recent days, it has revealed the cathedral's new spire for the first time, adorned with a golden rooster and cross, offering a glimpse of the building's expected appearance upon completion.

People around the world have  pledged more than $1 billion  to rebuild  Notre Dame. 

A resident near the cathedral, Frederico Benani, who witnessed the 2019 blaze, felt emotional Tuesday at seeing the spire once more.

"I can open the window in the morning. I see Notre Dame. I see the spire —it's for me, beautiful and it's much better (than) before," Benani said. "It gives us hope."

Investigators have said they think an  electrical short-circuit  most likely caused the devastating fire.

Anticipation has been building among Paris residents ahead of the cathedral's reopening, announced for Dec. 8. After the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron  vowed to rebuild Notre Dame within five years . An army of carpenters, stone masons, iron workers and artisans from about 20 other different specialties have been working on restoring the medieval structure.

The cathedral will not be open to the public during the Paris Olympics in July and August, when the city will host millions for the Summer Games.

Much of the cathedral remains surrounded by scaffolding, which could take weeks if not months to remove. The spire alone, cathedral officials said, was protected by some 70,000 pieces of scaffolding, totaling a dizzying 600 tons.

In a symbol of resilience and renewal, a new golden rooster, reimagined as a phoenix with flaming feathers, was installed atop the spire in December, marking the cathedral's rise from the ashes.

Other restoration efforts include the implementation of an anti-fire misting system beneath the cathedral's roof and the recreation of the original cross.

• Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris

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Five years after fire, Paris’s Notre-Dame on track for December reopening

Exactly five years after being ravaged by fire, the first stage of restoration work on the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris has been completed and the cathedral is due to open December 8, said the chairman of the public body overseeing its reconstruction.

Issued on: 15/04/2024 - 11:54

The fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral , which used to welcome 12 million visitors a year, shocked the world on April 15, 2019.

Around 250 companies and hundreds of artisans, architects and other professionals have been working on the extraordinary project to restore the cathedral, part of a  UNESCO World Heritage Site , and a masterpiece of Gothic art.

The first stage of the restoration, which French President Emmanuel Macron had said would be completed in "five years", involved clearing away tonnes of rubble and securing and cleaning up the building, which was completed in the summer of 2021 at a cost of €150 million.

Restoration work was interrupted for several weeks due to the Covid-19 crisis, but it resumed in 2021 on the cathedral site and in a number of art workshops, where expert carpenters, glassmakers and stonemasons worked.

Philippe Jost, chairman of the public body overseeing the cathedral's reconstruction, said one of the greatest technical feats was the identical reconstruction of the nave and choir frames, completed in March, using more than a thousand 200-year-old trees selected from French forests.

Ongoing work is on track to meet the December deadline for reopening, said Jost.

The landmark structure already had a key moment in February when scaffolding came off around its spire , which authorities say will be fully visible by the time the Paris Olympics kick off in July.

The spire has been covered in lead, a material that has caused much debate because of its potential toxicity.

More natural light

In December, the cathedral regained its great cross, and got a new golden rooster to replace one that had been destroyed in the fire.

Authorities have still not determined the cause of the fire, although they believe it was started accidentally.

A fund-raising drive launched within hours of the fire has attracted donations of €846 million ($903 million).

The cathedral's organ, undamaged by the fire but covered in lead dust, has been fully cleaned, although it will take six months of harmonisation before its 8,000 pipes recover their full sound potential.

Natural light inside the cathedral is at its brightest in living memory after the cleanup, Jost said.

France has just called for bids for the creation of modern stained glass for Notre-Dame, with deliveries expected in 2026.

Read more Notre-Dame carpenter Valentin Pontarollo on his joy at completion of cathedral's roof

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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Notre Dame Cathedral: How To Visit After The Fire

The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the most famous and beloved landmarks in Paris, and indeed in all of France. The Gothic cathedral is over 800 years old, and its iconic twin towers have been a symbol of the city for centuries. So it’s no wonder that the recent fire that ravaged the cathedral has left many people wondering if it’s still possible to visit Notre Dame. The good news is that the cathedral is still standing, and while it sustained significant damage in the fire, it is expected to be repaired and reopened to the public. In the meantime, there are still plenty of other ways to enjoy Notre Dame. Visitors can explore the exterior of the cathedral, including the famous rose windows, or take a tour of the nearby Notre Dame Museum .

Because Notre Dame is still undergoing renovations after the fire, no interior visitors are permitted at this time. Despite this, guests can still walk through the cathedral square , which is located at both the cathedral’s entrance and crypt.

Can You Visit The Notre Dame Cathedral Now?

The building is still closed to the public as of right now. When it reopens in 2024, it will be fully operational. As a Parisian icon, the Notre-Dame Cathedral is often referred to as the Eiffel Tower .

The Notre Dame of Paris facade is an example of fine art. Inside the church, dozens of machines press out coins from the Notre Dame, souvenir shops, (suspiciously expensive) candles, and… Keep an eye out for the dark building’s beautiful ceilings. The gargoyles can be seen from almost every angle in the cathedral. In 1160, the local bishop thought that the cathedral they had at the time wasn’t grand enough to support a city like Paris. When he died in 1355, the Notre Dame was only delivered a few days later. The Notre Dame campus caught fire on April 15, 2019. The ticket for climbing the Notre Dame costs *13.

Because there is a limited number of tickets available, it is best to purchase tickets in advance or with enough time to join the queue. The Eiffel Tower, Tour Montparnasse, and Sacre Coeur can all be seen from the first level. The Notre Dame of Paris bell tower is one of the most recognizable and well-known landmarks in the world. This is where you can take photographs from as you walk around the tower. Chicken wire is used to keep the first floor closed, but you can still see the views from the second. Lower parts of the Notre Dame (as well as its gardens) can also be seen from this vantage point. You will become extremely dizzy and nauseous if you do it too quickly. There is no denying that the view from the top of Paris is breathtakingly beautiful.

Why Is Notre Dame Cathedral Temporarily Closed?

Notre Dame has been closed since its roof burned down in 2019, sending its spire crashing down to horrified spectators in France and around the world, and it will be years before it can be rebuilt.

What Is The Current Status Of Notre-dame Cathedral?

Despite repeated delays and debates, the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is set to reopen to the public in 2024, five years after a devastating fire ripped through it, collapsing its roof and destroying its spire.

How Long Will Notre-dame Be Closed?

In the two years since a devastating fire destroyed large parts of Notre Dame’s 850-year- old cathedral , the public has been given a permanent home; by 2024, the cathedral will be completely secure, allowing it to reopen.

Notre Dame: The Hope Of A City

In the midst of the rebuilding process, demolition of the old Notre Dame structure began, followed by construction of a more fireproof structure. One of the most difficult engineering challenges facing the reconstruction of the spire, which was destroyed in the fire, has yet to be resolved. It will, however, be a powerful message of hope to the city and the world that a rebuilt Notre Dame will serve as a symbol of a vibrant and thriving city.

Is Notre-dame Open To The Public Again?

Yes, Notre Dame is open to the public again. Visitors can explore the inside of the cathedral, including the famous Rose Window, and climb to the top of the bell towers for a stunning view of Paris.

It has largely been closed since a fire in 2019 ravaged the building. Plans for the new cathedral and grounds were also released by Paris officials . A new roof and lead sheath are part of the reconstruction process. After that, it will take five years for the cathedral to reopen. The Paris Diocese has been involved in the planning and construction of the cathedral. The city will fund the cost of the project for the restoration of the grounds. In the front square, a cooling system made of thin sheets of cooling water will be constructed. Aside from trees, a 30% increase in vegetation will be provided.

How Long Will It Take For Notre-dame To Be Restored?

Rima Abdul-Malak, France’s culture minister, announced earlier this week that the cathedral, which was severely damaged in a massive fire in April 2019, should reopen in 2024, during the Olympic Games.

The Cost Of Rebuilding Notre Dame

The Notre Dame campus is still without a roof nearly a year after a massive fire destroyed it. It is estimated that the reconstruction will necessitate an international effort. According to one estimate, the cathedral’s reconstruction could cost as much as $8 billion; however, despite President-Elect Macron’s claim that the project would be finished by 2024 (with an estimated cost of $8 billion), experts cautioned that the cathedral’s full renovation could take up to How much does it cost to restore a historic building like the Irish Museum of Modern Art? Because the cost of restoration varies depending on the severity of the damage, the extent of the restoration work required, and the building’s era, it is difficult to determine what the cost would be. The project’s overall budget could range between $10 million and $50 million, depending on the scope.

Can You Visit Notre-dame Again?

The majestic cathedral in Paris will reopen in 2024, five years after it was destroyed in a fire. Two years after a fire destroyed much of the 850-year- old Notre Dame cathedral, the public will be able to tour it again in 2024, thanks to the completion of the cathedral’s security system.

What Is The Current Status Of Notre Dame Cathedral In Paris?

The current status of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is that it is being rebuilt after a devastating fire in 2019.

The Gothic masterpiece known as Notre-Dame Cathedral is well-known around the world. The cathedral was built in the late tenth century, but it wasn’t until nearly 200 years later that it was fully functional. On April 15, 2019, a fire occurred at the cathedral, causing significant damage. The building is currently closed to the public, and no information will be made available in the near future. If you only had a day to visit Paris, the Louvre would be a fantastic place to spend it. The museum first opened its doors in 1793 and is home to 35,000 works of art. Even if you want to climb the cathedral’s dome, you won’t have to pay to go.

The Louvre attracts approximately 9 million visitors each year, making it one of the world’s most visited museums. The museum was founded in 1793 and houses 35,000 works of art, making it one of the world’s largest art collections. The Louvre once served as a royal residence for Louis XIV, who lived there as a royal. The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, with an annual attendance of approximately 9 million visitors. When there are large crowds around the Mona Lisa, it can be a major problem. By selecting what you want to see ahead of time, you can make the best plan.

Can You Tour Notre Dame Cathedral

Yes, you can tour Notre Dame Cathedral. The Cathedral is open to the public for visits and tours every day from 8:00 am until 7:00 pm. You can explore the inside of the Cathedral on your own or join a guided tour.

Guided tours of Notre Dame de Paris are available in a variety of languages throughout the year. This cathedral is a spiritual beacon, thanks to its architecture, history, sculptures, stained glass windows, and so much more. Guided tours are held every Monday through Friday from 2 to 3 p.m., and on Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m. If you want to see the history of Paris in person, the Towers of Notre Dame de Paris should be on your list. The Emmanual Bell, which was preserved from being melted down and was discovered in the 15th century, is located on the south tower’s second floor. The North Tower also has four bells and a closeup view of the gargoyles and chimera. Except on French national holidays, such as January 1st and May 1st, the Tower Visit of Notre Dame de Paris is open every day of the year, from 10 a.m. to noon. A ticket costs 8.00 and is free to anyone under the age of eighteen who is accompanied by an adult.

There are many monuments in Paris that are not religious, but Notre Dame de Paris is one of them. A subway stop on the Ile de la Cite, where line 4 runs, is the nearest station. There are also RER trains and the Batobus Water Bus available as public transportation.

Can You Visit Notre Dame Cathedral After The Fire

Due to the devastating fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 2019, the church has been closed since the start of 2019. Despite the fact that the cathedral’s exterior is still visible and can be viewed from both afar and up close, it is still a place of worship that people can still visit.

The Reopening Of Notre Dame Cathedral

Visitors are expected to be able to enter the Cathedral on April 15, 2024, exactly five years after the devastating fire. A project led by Philippe Villeneuve, an architect who has been appointed specifically for this project, is being carried out. To construct the cathedral in this manner, the spire and exterior should be identical. The Cathedral, though it is not yet open to the public, is open Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 6:45 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Even if you want to climb to the top of the cathedral, you are not required to pay.

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What Will Happen to Notre Dame? Crowds Gather and Pray Along the Seine as Island Remains Closed

Notre Dame is often lauded as the most-visited landmark in Europe

Following the devastating fire that tore through Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, donations to rebuild the site poured in, raising questions about how long this enormous task will take and how it will impact tourists hoping to see the world-famous church and the city of Paris itself.

Notre Dame is touted as the most-visited monument in Europe , bringing in between 12 and 14 million visitors per year.

Tourists and locals alike have already been flocking to pay their respects at the monument. However, because of the fire, the inside of the French Gothic building will be closed to visitors — likely for upwards of five years.

On the night of the fire, the gathered crowd sang a haunting rendition of Ave Maria while watching the church burn.

Since then, Parisians and tourists have stood along the banks of the Seine to see what remains of the cathedral on the Ile de la Cité, an island in the river where the church is located.

A crowd gathered again on Tuesday night to hold a vigil on the Left Bank.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he hopes the monument will be rebuilt within a five year period, though some experts suggest it will be much longer. A prominent conservation architect, Pierluigi Pericolo, suggested that just checking the stability of the remaining structure could take two to five years, and the actual restoration would be, “No less than 15 years,” the Chicago Tribune reports. He added, “It’s a colossal task.”

Paris is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and Macron hopes to have it completed before then.

WATCH THIS: Salma Hayek’s Husband François-Henri Pinault Pledges $113 Million to Rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame’s bishop Patrick Chauvet told local business owners that the landmark would be shut down for an estimated five to six years, USA Today reports. Chauvet also added that he is unsure about the future of the 67 employees of the church and what they will do in that time period.

The Notre Dame Cathedral has never been closed to the public for an extended period of time in recent history, according to Claire Moreau of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau. She also stated that the most similar instance to this was in 2013, when they added bells in the towers, but that renovation only occurred at night and only the two towers were affected by periodic closures.

On Monday, the residents of Ile de la Cité, were evacuated and the island has been closed to the public, USA Today reports. There is no word yet on when the island will re-open.

Right now, the Visitors Bureau is recommending other famous religious sites and tourist attractions to those who were considering visiting Notre Dame, including the Basilique Saint-Denis, the Sacré-Coeur, the Church of Saint-Eustache or the Sainte-Chapelle and Panthéon.

Worshippers who were planning to celebrate Easter and the Holy Week with mass at Notre Dame have been told to attend nearby Saint-Eustache, USA Today reports.

While tourism to Notre Dame remains up in the air, the rebuilding of the cathedral has become an international affair. In two days, $1 billion has been raised for the rebuilding of the landmark , the Tribune reports.

Wealthy French citizens, including luxury brand group LVMH founder Bernard Arnault and Salma Hayek’s husband François-Henri Pinault both donated enormous sums immediately after the fire.

On Wednesday, French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe also announced another way for the international community to get involved in Notre Dame’s rebuilding: a contest for the redesign of the spire.

According to the Wall Street Journal, he hopes the contest will help developers decide if they should rebuilt the spire at all, create an exact replica of the 19th-century, 750-ton spire that collapsed on Monday, or “if, as is often the case for the evolution of patrimony and cathedrals, Notre Dame should be given a new spire adapted to the techniques and goals of our era.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing, according to Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz. Initial reports indicate it started in the attic, which has a wooden framework and no sprinklers, and spread across the roof and up the 300-foot spire.

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A milestone for Notre Dame: 1 year until cathedral reopens to public after devastating fire

PARIS (AP) — When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. But as the world-famous Paris landmark’s reopening draws closer, they are beginning to picture their return to the place they call home and are impatient to breathe life back into its repaired stonework and vast spaces.

The restoration of Notre Dame hits a milestone Friday: one year until the cathedral reopens its huge doors to the public, on Dec. 8, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will don a hard hat and tour the fenced-off reconstruction site where stonemasons, carpenters and hundreds of other artisans are hammering away to meet the 12-month deadline.

When their job is done, they will hand over to Notre Dame’s priests, employees, chorists and worshippers. With prayers, songs and devotion, they’ll give the cathedral the kiss of life and celebration to nudge aside the pain the April 15, 2019, blaze inflicted on French hearts and Catholic faithful around the world.

Notre Dame is “not the biggest cathedral nor perhaps the most beautiful,” the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, its rector, told The Associated Press this week, but “it is the incarnation of a nation’s soul.”

“The expectations, the preparations for the reopening are a magnificent sign of hope in a difficult world,” he said.

Henri Chalet, the principal choir conductor, already has butterflies at the thought. On one hand, he tells himself that in the 850-plus-year history of Notre Dame, its closure is just a blip and he needs to be patient a little longer. But for a human lifetime, “five years is very long,” he said, and “unfortunately, in 850 years, it fell on us.”

“We are obviously impatient to be able to go back,” he said. “It really is our home, in the sense that we were there every evening for services and also for concerts every week.

“Now, we really feel there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said, “with a lot of joy, enthusiasm and a little stress.”

On the reconstruction side, recent progress has been remarkable. Huge oak beams, put together using carpentry techniques pioneered when Notre Dame was built in medieval times, have been hoisted skyward so the cathedral can be re-roofed. The towering spire now points once more toward the heavens, rebuilt piece by piece behind 600 tons of scaffolding.

When Macron visits, the name of the retired French general who led the big-budget restoration before his death will be carved in tribute in the wood of the spire. Jean-Louis Georgelin died in August, at 74.

And when Olympic visitors descend on Paris in their millions for the Summer Games opening July 26, the rebuilt spire and roof should be complete, giving the cathedral a finished look from outside.

Work inside will continue. Jobs in the final months will include tuning the cathedral’s thunderous 8,000-pipe grand organ, France’s largest musical instrument. It survived the fire but had to be dismantled, cleaned of toxic lead dust generated when the roofing burned, and reassembled. Renovations will continue after the reopening.

The cathedral’s own workforce also is being scaled back up. It was cut to seven employees because of closure for repairs. Dumas, the rector, said a hiring drive next year will restore the number of full-time employees to nearly 50, to welcome back the 15 million annual visitors and worshippers the Paris diocese is bracing for.

Chorist Adrielle Domerg, who was 10 when she joined Notre Dame’s choirs and is now 17, said the cathedral is “almost a person” to her.

“A multitude of people, of dreams, of prayers gave birth to it,” said Domerg, who last sang there with her choir days before the blaze and aches to do so again.

“It’s going to be very emotional,” she said. “The cathedral, in a way, will reawaken and we will pull it out of the shadows.”

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Reconstruction Progress report

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Notre-dame cathedral's 2023 reconstruction progress updates.

In 2023, significant progress has been made in the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral . Almost 1,000 workers are involved in the efforts, both on-site and in workshops across France. Scaffolding is being removed in phases, and the Grand Organ, stained-glass windows, and wrought iron railings have undergone restoration. Key structural elements like vaults and buttress walls have been repaired or replaced. The timber framework for the nave and choir is being prepared in workshops for future installation. The reconstruction of the iconic spire has also commenced. Overall, the progress report indicates steady advancement towards the cathedral’s complete restoration.

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2022 Restoration Progress Updates

After the completion of the Safety Phase in 2021, 2022 marks an important step forward as we rebuild and restore Notre-Dame Cathedral .  

Preliminary operations are already underway, like the major campaign to clean the interior of the cathedral . Over the next few months, the Établissement Public, the public agency in charge of managing the restoration, will issue calls for tender to source companies with expertise in the restoration of historical monuments to participate in the restoration. Outside of Notre-Dame Cathedral ’s walls, the restoration of the Grand Organ and the cathedral’s works of art continues.

View these exclusive Notre-Dame reconstruction photos

Key reconstruction projects in 2021.

Two projects are now complete that are key to the next phase of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s reconstruction.

On November 24, all of the burned scaffolding surrounding Notre-Dame de Paris was removed . 

Now work can begin on the interior of the cathedral without the risk of the damaged scaffolding collapsing into the cathedral. Next, scaffolding will be built inside the cathedral to protect the vaults and provide support so they can undergo reconstruction. The scaffolding will help buttress the weight carried by the vaults, so construction can continue without risking the integrity of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s structure. 

In early December, the Grand Organ was dismantled and removed, a project completed one month ahead of schedule. The Grand Organ’s pipes will now be taken for repair and extensive cleaning to remove lead dust that settled in the aftermath of the fire. The restoration work, organ reassembly and tuning are projected to finish by April 2024.

At the beginning of November, Michel Picaud, President of Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris went inside Notre-Dame Cathedral to take a look at the work that was underway. 

Construction Resumes in 2020

On June 8, 2020 construction resumed on Notre-Dame Cathedral after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

The work is focused on continuing to remove the burned scaffolding that had surrounded the spire . In 2019, the spire was undergoing restoration and was destroyed during the fire on April 15. This cleanup effort should last until September but is subject to change as it is a delicate process to remove 30,000 tubes weighing 300 tons.

At the end of June, Michel Picaud, President of Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris was able to go inside Notre-Dame Cathedral for the first time in over a year. 

Official Decision About the Spire

The study presented plans to respect the previously existing structure of the cathedral and to restore the monument to its last complete, coherent and known state.

CNPA unanimously approved the architects’ recommendations that Notre-Dame Cathedral be restored to its prior state. The French President Emmanuel Macron also shared his approval for this decision. 

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Notre-Dame's transformation five years after fire

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Five years after a devastating fire at the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, video shows the progress of renovation work.

The 850-year-old Gothic building's spire and roof collapsed in April 2019 but the main structure, including the two bell towers, was saved.

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• Published 12 April

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Notre dame restoration making progress 5 years after fire, people around the world pledged roughly $1 billion to rebuild the famed cathedral.

Keith Dunlap , Digital Content Team, Graham Media Group

Five years ago today, the world watched in horror as a famed landmark looked like it was on the cusp of destruction.

On April 15, 2019, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was gripped by a devastating fire that lasted more than 12 hours.

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Significant damage was done to the upper wall and roof, the spire ended up collapsing, and exterior art was either damaged or destroyed.

A Christmas Mass was not held that year for the first time since 1803, and sympathetic people around the world pledged roughly $1 billion to aid in a five-year restoration process of the cathedral.

Investigators have said a short electrical circuit or cigarette likely caused the fire .

Many priceless relics were recovered and preserved from the blaze , including a Crown of Thorns many believe was worn by Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion.

But while the world almost lost an iconic landmark that day, five years later, the restoration process looks as if it will make Notre Dame better than ever for tourists.

While the cathedral won’t officially reopen until December 8 —meaning tourists visiting Paris for this summer’s Olympics will be out of luck — significant progress has been made to bring Notre Dame back to life.

In February, the cathedral’s new spire between the two towers was revealed. The spire was adorned with a cross and a golden rooster.

The scaffolding that has surrounded the cathedral as it’s been restored started to be removed in February as well, marking a big milestone in the cathedral’s revival.

There is still some work to be done in the coming months, namely removing more scaffolding, adding further coverings and protections to the spire, continued work on the wooden base of the spire, the recreation of the original cross and the installation of a anti-fire misting system beneath the roof.

But five years after many around the world feared Notre Dame was lost, it is continuing to rise from ashes.

Graham Media Group 2024

About the Author

Keith dunlap.

Keith is a member of Graham Media Group's Digital Content Team, which produces content for all the company's news websites.

A milestone for Notre Dame: 1 year until cathedral reopens to public after devastating fire

PARIS (AP) — When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. But as the world-famous Paris landmark’s reopening draws closer, they are beginning to picture their return to the place they call home and are impatient to breathe life back into its repaired stonework and vast spaces.

The restoration of Notre Dame hits a milestone Friday: one year until the cathedral reopens its huge doors to the public, on Dec. 8, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will don a hard hat and tour the fenced-off reconstruction site where stonemasons, carpenters and hundreds of other artisans are hammering away to meet the 12-month deadline.

When their job is done, they will hand over to Notre Dame's priests, employees, chorists and worshippers. With prayers, songs and devotion, they'll give the cathedral the kiss of life and celebration to nudge aside the pain the April 15, 2019, blaze inflicted on French hearts and Catholic faithful around the world.

Notre Dame is “not the biggest cathedral nor perhaps the most beautiful," the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, its rector, told The Associated Press this week, but “it is the incarnation of a nation’s soul.”

“The expectations, the preparations for the reopening are a magnificent sign of hope in a difficult world,” he said.

Henri Chalet, the principal choir conductor, already has butterflies at the thought. On one hand, he tells himself that in the 850-plus-year history of Notre Dame, its closure is just a blip and he needs to be patient a little longer. But for a human lifetime, “five years is very long,” he said, and “unfortunately, in 850 years, it fell on us."

“We are obviously impatient to be able to go back,” he said. "It really is our home, in the sense that we were there every evening for services and also for concerts every week.

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“Now, we really feel there is light at the end of the tunnel," he said, "with a lot of joy, enthusiasm and a little stress.”

On the reconstruction side, recent progress has been remarkable. Huge oak beams, put together using carpentry techniques pioneered when Notre Dame was built in medieval times, have been hoisted skyward so the cathedral can be re-roofed. The towering spire now points once more toward the heavens, rebuilt piece by piece behind 600 tons of scaffolding.

When Macron visits, the name of the retired French general who led the big-budget restoration before his death will be carved in tribute in the wood of the spire. Jean-Louis Georgelin died in August, at 74.

And when Olympic visitors descend on Paris in their millions for the Summer Games opening July 26, the rebuilt spire and roof should be complete, giving the cathedral a finished look from outside.

Work inside will continue. Jobs in the final months will include tuning the cathedral's thunderous 8,000-pipe grand organ, France's largest musical instrument. It survived the fire but had to be dismantled, cleaned of toxic lead dust generated when the roofing burned, and reassembled. Renovations will continue after the reopening.

The cathedral's own workforce also is being scaled back up. It was cut to seven employees because of closure for repairs. Dumas, the rector, said a hiring drive next year will restore the number of full-time employees to nearly 50, to welcome back the 15 million annual visitors and worshippers the Paris diocese is bracing for.

Chorist Adrielle Domerg, who was 10 when she joined Notre Dame's choirs and is now 17, said the cathedral is “almost a person” to her.

“A multitude of people, of dreams, of prayers gave birth to it," said Domerg, who last sang there with her choir days before the blaze and aches to do so again.

“It’s going to be very emotional,” she said. “The cathedral, in a way, will reawaken and we will pull it out of the shadows.”

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This New Exhibit in Paris Examines the Restoration of Notre Dame After the Fire

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Marcel Strauss/Unsplash

On April 15, 2019, the world held its breath as the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris teetered on the edge of collapse following a severe fire—the precise origins of which are still under investigation. Five years later, the damage has been cleared, the stone inside the cathedral shines anew, and the structure’s mighty spire has been rebuilt and secured in place. With an end in sight to the most significant restoration works, the city’s majestic icon is on track for its grand reopening on December 8, just as President Macron vowed .

In the meantime, there’s a unique opportunity to glean a fresh perspective on the 860-year-old monument. A new exhibition, that previewed on the eve of the April 24 grand opening, showcases masterpieces from the cathedral ’s interior that were saved in the days after the fire and restored by specialized experts over the last two years. Seeing these marvels up close meant venturing south of Ile de la Cité, the city’s central island, to the 13th arrondissement where the Mobilier National, one of France’s lesser-known public institutions, preserves and repairs the country’s most valuable historic furnishings and decorative arts.

In the Galerie des Gobelins building, once part of the Gobelins tapestry factory, Restoring the Grands Decors of Notre Dame comes to life. The monumental exhibit is organized by the Mobilier National and the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles d'Île-de-France (a part of the Ministry of Culture) with the support of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France. During the preview, its curators walked me through a selection of pieces that trace both the beloved cathedral’s decorative history and its future. The short version: It’s a chance to see restored pieces dating back to the 17th century on display outside the cathedral for the first time, juxtaposed with contemporary furnishing.

Among the display of religious paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries that loom large at the start of the exhibit, the most notable are the 13 large-format pieces from a collection of 76 works called Mays . As the curators explained, these paintings were produced by the country’s best artists between 1630 and 1707 and donated to the cathedral by the goldsmiths guild of Paris every year on May 1 , in honor of the Virgin Mary. During the Revolution, about 20 of the Mays were dispersed when all ecclesiastical property was seized. Five paintings disappeared, while the rest were transported to the Musée des Petits-Augustins and the Louvre . After the Concordat of 1801, Catholic worship at Notre Dame was restored, and these 13 pieces were returned to the cathedral.

Emmanuel Pénicaut, director of Mobilier National collections, wasn’t surprised when I said I hadn’t seen any of them in nearly twenty years of living in Paris . “These paintings, each four meters high, were hung in the nave's very poorly lit side chapels, hardly visible to the average visitor,” he explained. “Here, people can see them up close and displayed in the order they were painted.”

Each May is presented alongside associated works, such as preparatory drawings, sketches, or engravings. Screens offer a modern touch, highlighting the before and after of the monumental restoration process. Comfortable banquettes serve as helpful reminders to sit in contemplation and admire the vividness of the colors in each restored work, particularly as they are presented at eye level for the very first, and likely only, time.

“The restoration process is key to the experience, especially since science allows us to do things that we wouldn’t have done even 30 years ago when I first started working on historic monuments,” says Marie-Hélène Didier, the National Heritage curator in charge of the Notre Dame restoration project. “Now, we intervene as we go along, removing varnish and grime layer by layer. Before, we tended to remove everything all at once. That’s all here for visitors to see and understand.”

We continued the visit with 14 tapestries depicting the life of the Virgin Mary (displayed in shifts of seven due to conservation constraints) that lord over a stone staircase leading to the second-floor exhibition room. Here, I got a glimpse of what’s to come when the Notre Dame reopens: new liturgical furnishings designed to replace pieces like the altar, the tabernacle, and congregation chairs that were largely destroyed when the vault collapsed.

But the marquee piece on this floor, the one that inspired a chorus of audible gasps during the preview, is the nearly 82-foot ornamental chancel rug, commissioned by King Charles X in 1825 and offered to the cathedral upon its completion by King Louis-Philippe. Partially restored and displayed for the exhibit, the one-ton hand-woven wonder has only been used a few times for grand occasions, like the wedding of Napoleon III, visits from the Pope, or the cathedral’s 850th birthday in 2013.

With the exception of the 14 tapestries that will be returned to the Cathedral of Strasbourg at the end of the exhibition, this exceptional collection of restored masterworks will find its permanent home within the walls of Notre Dame before it welcomes visitors and worshipers once again in December.

Restoring the Grands Decors of Notre Dame , on view at the Mobilier National from April 24 to July 21, 2024. Opening hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler

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Oil Paintings Rescued From Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire Go on Display

Known as the “Mays,” the artworks were created for an annual competition in the 17th century

Sonja Anderson

Daily Correspondent

When a fire nearly destroyed Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019, a collection of 17th-century masterpieces was hanging in its dim side chapels. Those paintings, known as the Mays , were recovered after the blaze—damp, but largely undamaged. Now, they’re going on display.

A new exhibition at the  Mobilier National in Paris will examine the efforts to “restore and rethink” Notre-Dame in the five years since the fire, according to a  statement from France’s culture ministry. The show will include contemporary artworks, cathedral furniture and 13 newly restored paintings from the Mays collection.

“We began removing them the day after the fire and decided they would all be restored,” Emmanuel Pénicaut, director of Mobilier National collections, tells the  Observer ’s Kim Willsher. “The exhibition is a chance to see them all in one place, in the order they were painted, which is how they would have been originally displayed. What you see now is how they would have looked the day they were completed.”

The Mays collection includes 76 oil paintings created between 1630 and 1707. They are the work of “the best artists in France,” including  Charles Le Brun and  Jacques Blanchard , per the Observer .

The paintings were made for a competition organized by Paris’ Confrérie des Orfèvres (the Goldsmiths’ Guild). Each May, the guild chose one work to be displayed before the statue of the Virgin Mary outside Notre-Dame. These pieces were then donated to the cathedral, where they were displayed in the nave alongside an explanation and a poem.

The Mays are religious paintings depicting “themes of the Counter-Reformation ,” a period of Catholic resistance to Protestant reform, as well as scenes from the Acts of the Apostles and the  Gospels in the New Testament, per the Fondation Notre-Dame . The annual competition was an attempt to elevate Catholicism after France’s  Wars of Religion , a series of violent conflicts between Roman Catholics and Protestants that killed millions in the late 16th century.

During the French Revolution in the late 1700s, many of the paintings were taken from the cathedral and split up, as the  Art Newspaper ’s Gareth Harris writes. In the 19th century, some of the works were returned to Notre-Dame until the architect  Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (who added the cathedral’s spire) had them moved to the  Louvre .

“The paintings suffered two major catastrophes: the Revolution and the arrival of Viollet-le-Duc, who got rid of much of the medieval decorations in Notre-Dame,” Pénicaut tells the Observer . “In 1905, they were put back ... not along the nave pillars as before but in the side chapels, which meant we lost the unity of the collection.”

Today, only 52 of the 76 Mays paintings are accounted for. Some are privately owned by collectors in the United Kingdom, while others are housed in French churches; Notre-Dame possesses 13. The upcoming exhibition marks the first time those 13 works will be displayed in the same place in over 160 years, Pénicaut tells the Observer .

“They are truly great classical paintings, and were painted by the best artists of the age,” he adds. “They not only have a great religious significance but an artistic value, too.”

After the exhibition at the Mobilier National, the artworks will return home to Notre-Dame. The cathedral is set to reopen in December, more than five and a half years after the fire that nearly destroyed it.

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Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.

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Masterpieces Saved in Notre Dame Cathedral Fire to be Exhibited in Paris

By Karen K. Ho

Karen K. Ho

Senior Writer, ARTnews

A new exhibition at the Mobilier National in Paris will showcase masterpieces that have been restored since the devastating fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in 2019.

The national furniture collection’s exhibition, opening on April 24, includes paintings, tapestries, liturgical furniture, and a 82-foot-long rug commissioned by the 19th century French monarch Charles X.

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The private collection of 76 religious paintings were made by the Paris goldsmiths’ guild and donated to the cathedral between 1630 and 1707. The artists include Charles Le Brun, Laurent de La Hyre and Charles Poerson.

Emmanuel Pénicaut, director of Mobilier National collections, told the Observer : “We were lucky to get them out quite quickly with just a little water damage and dust. It was rather miraculous.”

He added: “We began removing them the day after the fire and decided they would all be restored. The exhibition is a chance to see them all in one place, in the order they were painted, which is how they would have been originally displayed. What you see now is how they would have looked the day they were completed.”

The restoration of the paintings was conducted by experts from Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Île-de-France, or DRAC Île-de-France, a decentralized department of the French Ministry of Culture responsible for restoration and excavation work on the church, in partnership with the Mobilier National and the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France.

Other restored items that will be shown in the exhibition are nine religious paintings, an elaborate chancel rug used only a few times for major occasions such as the marriage of Napoleon III, as well as 14 tapestries depicting the Virgin Mary. New contemporary church furniture designed by Paris-based design Guillaume Bardet will also be on display.

Notre Dame cathedral is scheduled to reopen in December.

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Spire collapses after fire breaks out at Copenhagen's 17th-century Old Stock Exchange

A fire has broken out at Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange, engulfing its spire which collapsed onto the roof in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 blaze at Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral.

The 17th-century building, which is situated next to the Christiansborg Palace where the parliament sits, is one of Copenhagen's most famous landmarks and a popular tourist attraction. 

Huge billows of smoke rose over downtown Copenhagen and people were seen rushing inside the building to save paintings. Danish media reported that an annex of the parliament was being evacuated.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, police said.

"Horrible pictures from the Bourse. So sad. An iconic building that means a lot to all of us … Our own Notre-Dame moment," Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen wrote on social media platform X.

The spire, which was shaped as the tails of four dragons intertwined, reached a height of 56 metres.

The scaffolding around the building undergoing renovations made it harder for emergency services to extinguish the flames, while the copper roof preserved the heat, the Copenhagen fire department said.

The nearby finance ministry was evacuated as a result of the fire, the police said.

The Dutch Renaissance style building no longer houses the Danish stock exchange, but serves as headquarters for the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

"We are met by a terrible sight. The Bourse is on fire," the Chamber of Commerce wrote on X.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.

Copenhagen police asked people to avoid driving in the inner part of the city.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which has owned the building since 1857, has worked on restoring it to the style of Denmark's King Christian IV, who had the building constructed in the 17th-century.

"400 years of Danish cultural heritage in flames," Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said.

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On This Day, April 15: Fire damages Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral

April 15 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1817, the oldest, permanent U.S. public school for the deaf, Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (now the American School for the Deaf), was founded at Hartford, Conn.

In 1865, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln died of an assassin's bullet fired the night before at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as chief executive.

In 1912, the luxury liner Titanic sank in the northern Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland after striking an iceberg the previous night. Approximately 1,500 people died in the tragedy.

In 1931, Spanish Republicans formed a new government as King Alfonso sailed into exile .

In 1944, the Soviet army captured the Polish city of Tarnopol from German occupation. When Nazi Germany took the city in 1941, it murdered thousands of Jews, and in 1944, the Soviets killed some 4,500 Germans and destroyed much of the city.

In 1947, Major League Baseball's color line was officially broken with the debut of Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn on opening day. Robinson, who went on to become one of the game's great stars, walked and scored a run in the Dodgers' 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves.

In 1955, the first franchised McDonald's was opened in Des Plaines, Ill., by Ray Kroc, who got the idea from a hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif., run by the McDonald brothers.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon asked Congress for legislation to prohibit dumping of polluted dredge waste into the lakes .

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes against the Libyan regime of Moammar Gadhafi in response to the bombing of a Berlin discotheque that killed two U.S. serviceman.

In 1998, Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader who presided over a reign of terror in Cambodia in the late 1970s, died at a jungle outpost near the Cambodia-Thailand border.

In 2009, Tea Party protests , largely critical of President Barack Obama and his policies, had their biggest turnout to date on April 15, tax day -- in many cities.

In 2013, two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon , killing three people and injuring more than 260.

In 2014, after sending a distress signal, a South Korean ferry capsized off the country's southern coast, an incident that killed about 300 people .

In 2017, the bombing of a convoy of buses carrying evacuees killed at least 126 people in Aleppo, Syria, including dozens of children.

In 2019, a devastating fire collapsed the roof and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, but fire officials said they managed to avoid the total destruction of one of Paris' most recognizable landmarks.

In 2021, a former employee at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis opened fire at the building, killing eight people and himself. It was the state's most deadly mass shooting.

In 2023, Atiq Ahmed, a former Indian politician, and his brother, Ashram Ahmed, were shot dead on live TV while flanked by police on the way to a nearby hospital for a checkup after he was jailed for a kidnapping plot.

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Copenhagen’s mayor hopes to learn from Notre Dame reconstruction after historic building fire

Fire and smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The copper roof of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

FILE - A view of the Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 28, 2019. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The roof of the 17th-century old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix, file via AP)

Firefighters walk out of the main entrance as the Old Stock Exchange burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The roof of the 17th-century old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Firefighters work at the scene as smoke rises from the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Firefighters work on the building after a fire broke out at the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The fire was reported Tuesday morning in the historic building, which was undergoing renovation. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)

Historical paintings are carried out of the burning building as the Stock Exchange burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Danish Business’ CEO Brian Mikkelsen holds the top of the burnt dragon spire in front of Boersen, The Stock Exchange building in Copenhagen Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Copenhagen’s mayor said Thursday she contacted her Paris counterpart to see what could be learned from the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral in the French capital, after a fire devastated the Danish city’s 400-year-old stock exchange building.

Firefighters were still at the scene two days after a blaze destroyed half of Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange, which dates from 1615, and collapsed its iconic dragon-tail spire.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which was headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owns the building, has said they want the building to be reconstructed. However, no decision has yet been made about who will finance a reconstruction, a project that would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars) and take years.

Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, the Danish capital’s mayor, told The Associated Press that she had been in touch with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to discuss how the French handled the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral after an April 2019 blaze ravaged the 800-year-old landmark. Its restoration is slated for completion this year.

Hidalgo gave “some good inputs on how to move quickly, how Paris handled donations and the restoration which must be done fast,” Hæstorp Andersen said.

“We stand before a huge task when it comes to rebuilding Boersen together with the Danish Chamber of Commerce ... but we know this can be done quickly,” she said, using the stock exchange building’s Danish name.

She added that Hidalgo has invited a Danish team to meet those behind the rebuilding of Notre Dame’s spire.

Tuesday’s blaze was believed to have started on the roof during renovations, but the cause remained unclear and police had yet to enter the burned part of the building to investigate.

Work continued Thursday to stabilize the building, with the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department saying they expect to be working at the scene of the fire for at least another day.

“The walls are very unstable,” firefighter spokesman Tom Ole Simonsen said. Containers filled with concrete have been erected around the Old Stock Exchange to support it.

The copper roof had collapsed inside the shell of external walls and on Friday, they will try to remove the burned parts from inside the building with a huge crane, Simonsen said.

Although firefighters used “millions” of liters (gallons) of water, “it still smolders and glows inside,” Simonsen said. He added that the highest alarm was sounded Tuesday six minutes after the fire department was alerted.

Several streets around the charred building, including a main road running past it, will remained closed until Monday at least, Simonsen said.

When the fire engulfed the building on Tuesday, passers-by, Chamber of Commerce staff, police officers and firefighters raced inside the building to save its treasures. Many of the building’s most valuable contents, which included irreplaceable paintings and other works of art, had been saved. Among them was the huge 1895 painting “From Copenhagen Stock Exchange” by Danish artist P.S. Krøyer, the Chamber of Commerce said.

The exchange, known for its green copper roof and distinctive 56-meter (184-foot) spire in the shape of four intertwined dragon tails, sits on the waterfront next to the Danish parliament.

The building is considered a leading example of the Dutch Renaissance architectural style in Denmark. The Chamber of Commerce moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974.

This story corrects the spelling of French mayor’s last name to Hidalgo instead of Hildago throughout.