Rebuilding Notre Dame

4/11/2023

Hailey Poziombka '23

On April 15, 2019, in a tragedy that shocked the world, the French cathedral Notre Dame caught fire. The blaze quickly spread across the wooden infrastructure and raged long into the night. The spire crashed down and fell through the roof. Finally, the fire was abated, but in the process, a great symbol of French culture had seemed lost.

Today, the work to rebuild Notre Dame is in full force. After the fire, some 10,500 donors gave a total of $10.6 million to the historic church. The reconstruction intends to rebuild the church to its full, previous state, which includes building a brand new spire in the same style as the one that fell. Now, efforts are underway to clean the interior of the soot-choked building. Outside of the hallowed walls, the Grand Organ is undergoing restoration after the lead dust from the fire was cleaned out.

While the fire of Notre Dame was a terrible disaster, there is still hope for the future and reconstruction. While there was a detrimental loss to French culture, there is still the possibility that it will be restored to its former glory.