Notre-Dame will be equipped with a unique fire-fighting system, according to Philippe Jost

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, ravaged by a fire in 2019 and which is due to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024, will be equipped with a unique fire-fighting system, announced Wednesday Philippe Jost, who heads the public establishment responsible for reconstruction site.

“All precautions have been taken to completely rethink the fire protection” of Notre-Dame de Paris, a masterpiece of Gothic art, which could welcome “14 million visitors” annually after its reopening, or two more that before the fire, Mr. Jost declared before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly which was hearing him.

The new fire-fighting system includes a “misting device, being deployed in the attic and in the spire – to smother any possible outbreak of fire – a first in a cathedral in France,” added the former right-hand man of the General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died accidentally this summer, and whom he succeeded as head of the establishment.

The spire, still corseted by a forest of scaffolding, has reappeared in the sky of Paris, topped since December 6 with its cross. She will find her new rooster on Saturday, which will be craned to its top after its blessing by the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Laurent Ulrich.

Asked by deputies about concerns regarding the lead, which must cover the spire and the roof, Mr. Jost assured that “the cloud of lead - following the fire, which sparked heated controversy and complaints from local residents - did not visibly induce contamination” and that a new and “experimental runoff water treatment system” was deployed “in order to put in place the most suitable long-term system”.

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, visited the Notre-Dame construction site on December 8, one year to the day before the planned reopening of the cathedral to which he intends to invite Pope Francis.

Concerning the six contemporary stained glass windows which the Head of State announced would be produced through a competition, Mr. Jost assured that “all would endeavor to ensure that the consultation and the projects examined were worthy of the monument and would reassure the public. concerns that are being raised today” among defenders of the monument’s past cultural, religious and aesthetic heritage.

Furthermore, the construction site “will continue during the Olympic Games” in Paris in the summer of 2024 but public access to the three portals of the cathedral and the main adjacent street will be “ensured” in coordination with the Police Prefecture, a -he clarified.

Of the 848 million donations collected for the reconstruction, 150 were used for the rubble clearance and securing phase preparatory to the launch of the project, itself costing 552 million euros, according to Mr. Jost. Around 150 million euros remaining should make it possible to restore exterior parts of the cathedral, which suffered significant damage before the fire. On April 15, 2019, a spectacular fire ravaged the cathedral, whose spire, designed by the 19th century architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, collapsed, sparking global emotion. Legal investigations into the origin of the disaster are continuing. At the end of the preliminary investigation, the accidental route was favored.