Notre Dame

When fire ravaged Notre Dame in 2019, proposals for rebuilding the 12th century cathedral included a rooftop pool and a glass spire. But when it finally reopened at the twilight of 2024, it stood as a marvel of dutiful, worshipful authenticity. The $737 million restoration expanded the French icon into a global one, as artisans worldwide chipped in with hand axes and other pre-industrial tools to apply centuries-old techniques to the craftwork. A carpenter from Vermont. A glass worker from Germany. An architectural surveyor from Mexico. Wood preservationists from China. A Belgian organ builder who constructed a Middle Ages-era “positive” (a small pipe organ) to play while the 8,000 pipes in the cathedral’s main organ are harmonized over the next few months. The Dec. 7 reopening ceremony saw the words “thank you” projected onto the cathedral in dozens of languages. Public display has already resumed for the crown of thorns purportedly worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. The grand reopening is expected to attract up to 15 million visitors through 2025, surpassing a record set in 2017. “Nothing is more beautiful,” said the Archbishop of Paris while calling for pilgrimage to the restoration, “than to see Christian associations concerned with leaving no one behind, making room for the most precarious, the isolated, the forgotten: they will be at Notre Dame.”