Summary

The newly restored 850-year-old Notre-Dame Cathedral will reopen on December 7, five years after the devastating 2019 fire.

The €700m renovation has revitalized the Gothic masterpiece, preserving its historical integrity while incorporating modern safety upgrades like sprinkler systems.

The project involved 2,000 skilled craftsmen, boosting traditional trades such as stone-carving and woodwork.

Key features, including stained-glass windows and artwork, were saved, while the spire and roof timbers were reconstructed.

  • 𝔼𝕩𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕒
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    83 hours ago

    Not religious but the stone looks fantastic. The blue on the ceilings. The sharpend look of the checkerboard floors. The work that went into the arches. Having visited it almost 25 years ago, the seeing it had burned was sad. For the sheer work it takes to put a gothic structure back together - it’s beautiful.

  • @[email protected]
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    7 hours ago

    It’s wonderful to see such a beautiful part of France’s history restored so incredibly well. My heart broke when I saw it on the news and I hope this brings some joy to the wonderful people of Paris and France. It really is a national treasure and I cannot recommend seeing it in person enough!

    L’eau peut nous diviser, mais nous sommes frères et sœurs. Vive la France!

    With love from England.

    • @fluxion
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      75 hours ago

      It’s a nice and fitting bonus that it brought a boon to local/traditional trades like stoneworking. Not that it was a good thing, but they seem to have made the best of a shitty situation 👍

    • @[email protected]
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      -157 hours ago

      As a native American, fuck the French and every gilded church they build. As their people profited off of the rape of entire nations, they don’t deserve nice things in any context. All my SEA homies agree.

        • @fluxion
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          21 hour ago

          Look back far enough and everyone is a monster

          • @[email protected]
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            160 minutes ago

            Exactly; not to minimize what the French did (it was horrible even by colonial standards, although not quite as brutal as the Belgians) but if we went after every former coloniser like LordGimp does, there’d hardly be anyone left. I’ve never seen “anti-colonialist” people talk about expelling Arabs from North Africa, or Turks from Turkey — it’s directed only at western countries, seemingly completely oblivious to the vast tapestry of warfare and abuse perpetrated by others even while Europeans were still living in mud huts.

            • @[email protected]
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              126 minutes ago

              Which western country am I going after if I say “free Tibet”?

              It’s never been about western overexposure or who is culturally dominant in what category, it’s about greed. It’s ALWAYS been about greed. And 700 million dollars for a monument to slavery, cultural obliteration, and toxic patriarchy is extremely greedy.

              • @[email protected]
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                112 minutes ago

                Which western country am I going after if I say “free Tibet”?

                It’s been years since I’ve seen or heard anyone say this, but maybe that’s just me. In any case, thanks for bringing it up — anything China-related tends to be controversial here.

                It’s never been about western overexposure or who is culturally dominant in what category, it’s about greed. It’s ALWAYS been about greed. And 700 million dollars for a monument to slavery, cultural obliteration, and toxic patriarchy is extremely greedy.

                If we were talking about the 19th century I’d agree wholeheartedly, but I really don’t think that fits here. N-D was built centuries before France (or anyone else) had ships capable of making it even a fraction of the way to SE Asia. The word “colony” was something used in a historical context while discussing the Greeks; not a government policy. The same goes for slavery, which was extremely uncommon in Europe at that time (but fairly widely practised in Africa and the Middle East). Slavery was only embraced by Europeans during the age of sail and colonisation.

                All that to say, what you’re saying is right in its historical context, but this is not at all that historical context.

      • Flying SquidM
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        03 hours ago

        I don’t think there’s such a thing as a gilded church.

  • @[email protected]
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    177 hours ago

    Doing all that for “only” 700M Euros – and in five years! – is a miracle in itself. Well done to all involved!