Notre-Dame de Paris Restoration Photos

Notre-Dame de Paris Restoration Photos

Notre-Dame de Paris is one of those places you dream of visiting and standing in front of when planning a trip to the city of Paris. No trip to Paris should be without a visit to this show-stopping medieval wonder. Often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, it's a Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, in the 4th arrondissement (one of the two islands in the middle of the Seine River in the centre of the city).

Unless you've been living on another planet, you'll have heard about the catastrophic fire that destroyed the cathedral in April 2019. On my visits into Paris I've watched the repair work that was being carried out in 2017 with the scaffolding engulfing part of the cathedral, then I was personally visiting the cathedral just one hour prior to the breakout of the April 2019 fire, and also over the next five years on different occasions I've walked as close as possible to the worksite as the major fire-damaged cathedral was undergoing its major restoration.

Notre-Dame de Paris - 2017 Repair and 2022 Restoration Photos 

The initial 2017 repair project was essential due to damage caused by pollution, rain and time which weakened the cathedral’s basic structure. It was in this situation, with scaffolding engulfing the cathedral, that the April 2019 fire started. "Fire engulfed the spire and most of the roof. Thankfully, firefighters were able to control the blaze, saving the main structure including the bell towers and rose windows. Nobody was injured, and the Catholic relics housed in the cathedral and priceless works of art were rescued and brought to safety." - Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris

Just recently I was cleaning up many of my photo albums of Paris and stumbled across photos I'd taken of the cathedral while it underwent repair in 2017 and restoration in 2022. Some photos show the scaffolding and the wooden supporting frames, but what I loved looking at most was the informative boards set up on the high metal fences that surrounded the worksite. These boards told the story of what was happening hidden behind the fences and shared information on the artists and skilled craftspeople involved, where materials were being sourced from and the progress of the restoration. These huge boards were fascinating so I took photos of them.

It was these that I came across while cleaning up photo albums and thought why not put them into a blog post as a small personal capture of the historic repair and restoration of the cathedral. So rather than deleting the photos or filing them away to be forgotten, here they are, together with a few interesting facts of the restoration following the April 2019 fire. 

Restoration Following the April 2019 Fire

• Notre-Dame Cathedral was officially reopened to the public on 7 and 8 December 2024 following massive restoration work after the April 2019 fire.
• It cost approximately between €550 million and €737 million to restore the Notre-Dame cathedral.
• Approximately €840 million was raised in global donations.
• 1,000s of skilled artisans, carpenters, and experts utilising traditional medieval techniques were involved in the restoration work.
• Up to 2,000 hand-selected oak trees from French forests were used in the roof and spire rebuild to replicate the original "forest" framework and the iconic spire.
• During the cathedral's closure the stonework, soot-damaged murals, stained glass windows, and the 8,000-pipe Grand Organ were meticulously cleaned and restored.
• The cathedral is open to visitors but ongoing maintenance is still being undertaken.

Photos Taken August 2017 During Repair Work

Photos Taken February 2022 During Restoration Work

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