Five years after a devastating fire ravaged the famous Parisian Notre Dame Cathedral, it will reopen on schedule.
French President Macron promised the world that it would take only five years to restore, a timeline many thought overtly optimistic.
At the top of the building, the iconic spire was restored with its famous golden rooster replaced with a phoenix.
With $891 million raised in donations from 340,000 donors across 150 countries, and more than 2,000 artisans working seven days a week, it has been restored to its former glory.
Reconstruction of Notre-Dame of Paris. Lifting and posing of the cross on the top of the new spire.
“Since more than eight centuries this cathedral was here. It resisted to two world wars, so many battles and campaigns. The decision to rebuild Notre Dame was about our capacity to save, restore, sometimes reinvent what we are by preserving where we come from. This is a message of achievement,” French President Emmanuel Macron said as he thanked the thousands who helped rebuild the national treasure.