Notre Dame reopens as a symbol of renewal

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 13th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: Turning mourning into dancing. The Notre Dame Cathedral is once again open to the public. WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

AUDIO: [CHORAL SINGING]

MARY MUNCY: Last Saturday, Parisians filled the pews of the Notre Dame for the first time in more than five years.

MARY VONNE: [SPEAKING FRENCH] We thought it was over for the Notre Dame, and we see that it could be reborn.

Parisian Mary Vonne thought it was over for the iconic cathedral, but she says: “it’s been reborn.”

More than five years ago, on April 15th, 2019, an evening mass was underway when an alarm began to sound during the service. The priest thought it was a false alarm. But the building manager evacuated the cathedral…just in case.

Twenty minutes later, a second alarm. This time, there was no mistake the roof was on fire.

An hour and a half after that first alarm, onlookers gasped as the spire collapsed into the sanctuary below.

Two-thirds of the roof was destroyed, but nearly all the priceless art, religious artifacts, and stained glass windows were saved.

The restoration project required more than 2,000 skilled artisans to not only rebuild the roof and spire, but repair damaged stone work, clean and retune 8,000 organ pipes, and recreate 1,500 solid oak pews.

The workers used traditional materials and techniques—though a handful of modern fire prevention and detection upgrades are a part of the new design.

AFP estimates the total restoration cost was nearly $740 million dollars, most of which came from a handful of French billionaires.

Last week, Macron and thousands of contractors, tradesmen, and their families got an inside peek at the restoration. Macron tearfully thanked them all:

EMMANUEL MACRON: [FRENCH] Don’t forget that you repaired, that you contributed to reinvent, that you loved this place and that you rebuilt it. Don’t forget that during these five years of your life, you shared together, without a doubt, the most beautiful project of the century. And do not forget the thanks I give to you, but also your families, because I am aware of the sacrifices they agreed on so that you can keep this promise of rebuilding Notre-Dame within five years – you did it. And this is an immense pride for the entire nation.

He says that they should never forget what they contributed to the project of the century. The nation is proud of them and appreciates their sacrifice.

Then, last weekend.

SOUND: [NOTRE DAME BELL]

The bells of the Notre Dame rang out across the city for the first time in five years. And on the rainy, cold Saturday thousands of people gathered outside the cathedral.

ERNA ZIP: [FRENCH] It's magnificent, I'm full of emotion and I'm just happy.

Erna Zip says it’s magnificent and that she’s full of emotion: She’s just happy.

IBRAHIM HOSSEIN: [FRENCH] Seeing it again five years after is extraordinary! I was sad, it's true, the day the fire broke out. But now... happiness comes sooner or later. I'm so happy!

Ibrahim Hossein says seeing it again after five years is extraordinary.

The two watched…

SOUND: [OPENING THE DOORS]

…as the archbishop of Paris opened the doors.

About 2,500 people entered for the first service since the fire, while the rest watched the ceremonies from screens outside. They all listened as the principal organist awoke the Great Organ.

Then the Notre Dame choir chanted the office and a final blessing…

HENRI CHALET: [FRENCH] It's been more than five-and-a-half years that we have been homeless.

Choir director Henri Chalet says they’ve been homeless for five and a half years.

CECELIA DE VARGUS [FRENCH]: Despite the horrible thing that happened, there's still a positive side, seeing how all the people, all the French people sought to rebuild the cathedral with such speed.

But choir member Cecelia Vargus says some good has come of it. She saw the French people work together to rebuild the cathedral.

The church opened to the public on Sunday evening. Elzario Bandiera attended the first open mass.

ELZIARIO BANDIERA: [FRENCH] It reminds me of Christ's passage from death to resurrection, with the fire, the collapse, all the time it took for things to pick up again. So it kind of echoes our lives, everything we go through, our failures, when we're lying there on the ground and then we take time, we step back, we let ourselves be rebuilt, the cathedral let itself be rebuilt.

He says Notre Dame’s restoration echoes our life in Christ—moving from death to life. Sometimes we fail, lie on the ground for a time, but then Christ lifts us up again… just like the cathedral.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

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