Georgelin expects the exterior restoration of the blaze damage will cost about 550 million euros ($580.5 million), 150 million euros ($158 million) having already been spent to secure the building. In 2021, several observers expressed their concern over the additional costs incurred during this preliminary phase, wondering if the available funds would be sufficient for the completion of the work.
According to the director of the Cathedral Fund, Christophe-Charles Rousselot, the 800 million euros ($844 million) collected from more than 300,000 donors around the world will be enough money to entirely restore the framework and the roof, and to redo the spire.
“It will be enough to repair the consequences of the fire. But there will not be enough money to repair the whole cathedral,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien in March 2022, estimating that a total of 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) would probably be needed to repair the north and south facades of the building, which are not included in the current rebuilding project.
In the same way, the sum of the donations managed by the Public Establishment for the renovation does not include the cost of the interior fittings, which are the responsibility of the Diocese of Paris, the cathedral’s allocator. As of last March, according to Rousselot, the diocese was still between 6 million euros ($6.3 million) and 7 million euros ($7.4 million) short of donations to cover these expenses. The diocese has not communicated on this subject since then.
However, it announced last February that it had officially selected two candidates to design the 1,500 chairs that will furnish the monument’s nave and that the name of the winner would be known during the second half of 2023.
The design of these chairs has been a central point of contention in the heated controversy over the diocese’s overall interior redesign project, approved by France’s heritage authorities in December 2021 and which is oriented toward a more contemporary style.
The project also includes the installation of contemporary art in the side chapels, the projection of biblical messages on the walls, and a new “catechetical path” for visitors throughout the chapels, which, according to the diocese, would help them rediscover the Christian faith along the way.
“At a time when many tourists visit the monument without knowing its real spiritual meaning, the [diocese’s] goal is to remind people of the reasons why the cathedral was built in the first place, beyond the heritage treasure it represents,” Karine Dalle, the spokesperson for the diocese at the time, told the National Catholic Register at the height of the debate surrounding the draft project.
If all goes according to plan, it is envisaged that the cathedral will be open for worship on Dec. 8, 2024, on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Until then, the numerous lovers of this Gothic jewel can visit the exhibition “Notre-Dame de Paris: At the Heart of the Construction Site,” which opened on March 7 and pays tribute to the know-how of the many artisans working on its reconstruction. The exhibition, located in an underground room in front of the cathedral, is free and open to the public.
A virtual show offering a complete immersion in the cathedral’s eight centuries of history has also been offered under the cathedral’s forecourt since the fall of 2022. The virtual-reality expedition titled “Eternelle Notre-Dame” is meant to be presented later throughout France, Europe, and then for the rest of the world.