French president Emmanuel Macron and a host of officials and media representatives got a look at the restored interior of the Notre Dame cathedral Friday, a week and change ahead of its official re-opening next Sunday.
The exterior of the Gothic cathedral is still a work zone, but the interior is now complete, and surprisingly light-toned because the removal of toxic dust and discoloration from the April 2019 fire also removed several centuries of previous grime from the walls and columns of the building.
The restoration of the building, carried out by hundreds of experts and artisans, included replacing not only the spire which collapsed during the fire but also the intricate ‘forest’ of huge beams that hold up the roof. While all of the restoration was done with time-tested traditional work, the project also involvedf installing a modern fire suppression system that is designed to release millions of droplets of water, rather than a heavy flow that might cause more damage.
