Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is expected to reopen for visitors and worshippers at the end of 2024, more than five years after the devastating fire that tore through the roof of the building in April 2019.

The timing means the cathedral won't be ready for the Paris Olympics scheduled for the summer of 2024, but visitors to that event will be able to view an exhibition that opened on March 7 at the cathedral site. Called 'Notre-Dame de Paris: at the heart of the construction site', it pays tribute to the hundreds of workers toiling on the reconstruction.

Located in an underground gallery next to the cathedral, the exhibition highlights ongoing operations to restore the cathedral, showcases the expertise and skills of artisan workers and features some works of art rescued from the fire. Entry is free.

Work will continue into 2025

Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak said that the cathedral's reopening next year didn't mean that all the restoration work would be over. "There will still be some renovation works going on in 2025," she said. 

The reconstruction of the world-famous cathedral has been an enormous task. It began in 2022, after more than two years of work to make the monument stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding it. Delays were caused by the pandemic and concerns about contamination from lead particles released during the fire.

Authorities have made the choice to rebuild the 12th-century masterpiece of Gothic art, the way it was before. This includes recreating the 96-metre-high spire from the 19th century designed by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. 

The cathedral's iconic spire centrepiece, which collapsed in the fire, will reappear above the monument this year in a powerful signal of its revival.

Before the fire, Notre Dame was visited by more than 12 million people every year.

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​Notre Dame Cathedral Paris (France)