Notre Dame Cathedral: An Encore for a “Symphony in Stone”
Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” that “The church of Notre-Dame in Paris is without doubt, even today, a sublime and majestic building … a vast symphony in stone, as it were; the colossal handiwork of a man and a people.”
In 2019, the world nearly lost that remarkable creation, as fire swept through the building, the foundation of which was laid in 1163.
The damage was devastating. The cost to repair the landmark would be enormous —an estimated $760 million — and the work seemed unimaginably challenging. But people throughout France, and indeed around the world, stepped up to help in an astonishing show of unity and support.
More than 350,000 people from more than 150 countries donated nearly $1 billion to the project, far surpassing what was needed.
Other challenges loomed large, however. While modern techniques and equipment could be applied to much of the work, authentically rebuilding the structure would require the tools of centuries long past, and artisans skilled enough — and creative enough — to use them.
CBS News interviewed carpenter Hank Silver of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in 2023. One of dozens of craftspeople who traveled to Paris from the U.S. to do the work of a lifetime, Silver told of using 13th century tools like broadaxes and chisels, as he and others hewed some 2,000 oak trees — many of them centuries old — from around Europe.
Elsewhere, throughout Paris and across France, experts worked to repair damaged stained-glass windows. Others worked on the cathedral’s massive pipe organ. Still others restored masterpiece paintings and the bells so inextricably linked to the structure’s history and mystique.
In the former royal tapestry factory, the official ceremonial carpet of the cathedral, nicknamed “the Cloth of Gold,” was painstakingly brought back to its former glory. Created in 1833 during the reign of Charles X, it was used only for coronations and other momentous events, and had been seen by the public no more than a dozen times since its creation.
Meanwhile, still more work was taking place. Sound experts strived to ensure that the acoustics of the structure would be faithfully recreated. At a family-owned workshop, 1,000 hours of work were devoted to saving the cross of the apse, the only piece of the choir roof that survived the fire. Sculpture restorers toiled diligently to repair the gargoyles and chimeras that adorn the outside of the cathedral, and to remove lead dust from the many sculptures housed inside.
Half of France, it seemed, was involved in saving the beloved monument. Such was the scope and complexity of the effort that Jean-Louis Georgelin, a five-star general in the French Army, was assigned to oversee the project. For five years the work continued.
And then, on Nov. 8, 2024, the bells rang out.
Just before 10:30 in the morning, eight bells, each named for an important religious figure in church history, sounded —first one by one, then together for five glorious minutes.
Work had been completed on the cathedral roughly one month ahead of schedule, first under the eye of Georgelin and then, following his tragic death in 2023 in a hiking accident in the Alps, by Phillippe Jost, his deputy.
For all of France, the preservation of a national treasure that had survived the French Revolution, endured bombing in World War II and only narrowly escaped fiery destruction, was cause for joy and gratitude. As Fr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector-archpriest of the cathedral, said: “France recognizes itself in this cathedral. This reconstruction represents a sign of hope for everyone.”
Not surprisingly given its beauty and rich historical significance, Notre Dame has been a fixture on Road Scholar learning experiences in Paris, and we are thankful it can continue to enlighten and inspire our participants. With its reopening to the public in December 2024, visitors will once again be able to take in its wonders, inside and out.