2024-04-19-eEdition

APRIL 19, 2024 THE CATHOLIC WEEK PAGE 9 By CAROLINEDE SURY OSV News PARIS — Philippe Villeneuve, Notre Dame Cathedral's chief architect, learned about the 2019 fire 300 miles from Paris and rushed to the capital to help fire- fighters save the iconic monument. For France's top architect of histori- cal sites, the evening of April 15, 2019, was especially dark as Notre Dame Cathedral was already his passion when he was a little boy. Since the inferno, he has worked tirelessly to finalize major parts of renovations by Dec. 8 when the cathedral is reopened. In fact, it was a fascination with Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the French ar- chitect who restored the cathedral in the 19th century, that inspired Villeneuve to become an architect of historic monu- ments. A graduate of École Nationale Supérieure D'architecture de Paris Val- de-Seine, Paris' architecture university, he has been entrusted with the renovation of many iconic monuments, including one of the most well-known castles in the Loire Valley — Chambord. In 2013, he was asked to renovate part of Notre Dame in Paris — includ- ing repairing the stonework of the flying buttresses and the fissures in Viollet-le- Duc's spire.When the fire broke out, he was working on the spire. The fire of 2019, the cause of which remains unknown, struck Villeneuve as a personal tragedy. "Everyone was scared, and it went on for hours, getting worse by the hour," he told OSV News. He was immediately asked to secure the site, and the Ministry of Culture confirmed him in his mission to repair the damaged cathedral. Since then, he has devoted all his time and pas- sion to the challenge. Today, the chief architect is confident of meeting the deadlines imposed on him. "Yes, the cathedral will be ready for its official reopening on December 8, 2024.The framework is finished.The roofers are still working," he told OSV News. "There was a lot of wind at Easter, so we were a little behind schedule. But we will make it up.We have to hurry, but everything will be fine." The site of the Notre Dame recon- struction is still sealed off, with tourists patiently watching the front towers of the cathedral from the wooden steps in- stalled in front of it.The steps are placed not far from the place where Villeneuve found the copper rooster perched at the spire's top that was feared lost on April 15. However, on April 16 at dawn, Vil- leneuve found the battered rooster lying in the gutter of Rue du Cloître-Notre- Dame, a street right next to the cathedral square.The relics of Paris' patron, St. Genevieve, were found intact inside. After five years of intense work and installation of a new rooster—one he de- signed himself— on top of the new spire, Villeneuve told OSV News they are now "preparing the most decisive phase of the project." "This involves dismantling the large scaffolding at the transept crossing. Removing it will enable us to rebuild the cross vault, replace the paving and install the altar.We are going to erect a new scaffolding, but this time detached from what is below, to put the finishing touches to the work on the spire's roof at this point," he explained. "This work, above the transept cross- ing vault," he said, "is the most delicate part of the project. But everything is going well." Villeneuve emphasized that this magnificent project was made possible by the international outpouring of gener- osity and donations that followed the fire. "I would never have imagined that Notre Dame could have aroused such emotion throughout the world, during and after the fire," he told OSV News. "It was astonishing."Those involved in the reconstruction emphasize that many American donors generously supported rebuilding of the icon of Paris and icon of the Catholic Church. "Notre Dame shows France's influence in the world, and its extraordinary heri- tage. But the fire was not just a national issue. Notre Dame is also a (UNESCO) World Heritage site, and during the fire, we really felt that it was humanity that was seeing its heritage disappear." Villeneuve added that "the flames and the fall of the spire sent shockwaves around the world" but "fortunately, the firemen did an extraordinary job, and in the end we lost a frame, a roof, a spire, a few pieces of vaulting, but no more. And thanks to all that, in the end, we will have an even more beautiful cathedral than before the fire.This is very stimulating." NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL Chief architect: 'It will be breathtaking' Charlene Yves/OSV News The spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, pictured April 10 is now back atop the iconic structure. Reconstruction work at the cathedral entered its last phase as the world pre- pared to observe the fifth anniversary of the April 15, 2019, blaze that caused the spire to collapse inside the cathedral. Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen Dec. 8, to be followed by six months of celebrations, Masses, pilgrimages, prayers and exhibitions.