In a Dec. 1, 2022, communiqué issued by the Public Establishment in Charge of the Conservation and Restoration of the Cathedral, Georgelin had already announced “major advances” in the progress of the project.
“The completion of the reconstruction of the first of the collapsed vaults marks an important step, while the interiors are already regaining their beauty,” he said.
After the spire and transept, reconstruction of the large roof of the nave and of the choir, whose frameworks date back from the beginning of the 13th century, will take place.
The wood that will be used to rebuild the frame was blessed by the rector of the cathedral, Bishop Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, on Dec. 15, 2022. The beams were entirely handmade in the medieval manner. The blessing was perceived as the real kickoff of the effective reconstruction of Notre-Dame’s roof after several months of study and preparatory work.
The project officials have estimated that approximately 1,000 people throughout France are working daily on the restoration process.
Georgelin expects the exterior restoration of the blaze damage will cost about 550 million euros ($580.5 million), 150 million euros ($158 million) having already been spent to secure the building. In 2021, several observers expressed their concern over the additional costs incurred during this preliminary phase, wondering if the available funds would be sufficient for the completion of the work.
According to the director of the Cathedral Fund, Christophe-Charles Rousselot, the 800 million euros ($844 million) collected from more than 300,000 donors around the world will be enough money to entirely restore the framework and the roof, and to redo the spire.
“It will be enough to repair the consequences of the fire. But there will not be enough money to repair the whole cathedral,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien in March 2022, estimating that a total of 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) would probably be needed to repair the north and south facades of the building, which are not included in the current rebuilding project.
In the same way, the sum of the donations managed by the Public Establishment for the renovation does not include the cost of the interior fittings, which are the responsibility of the Diocese of Paris, the cathedral’s allocator. As of last March, according to Rousselot, the diocese was still between 6 million euros ($6.3 million) and 7 million euros ($7.4 million) short of donations to cover these expenses. The diocese has not communicated on this subject since then.
However, it announced last February that it had officially selected two candidates to design the 1,500 chairs that will furnish the monument’s nave and that the name of the winner would be known during the second half of 2023.
