The flames that devastated Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral had only just been extinguished on the morning of April 16, 2019, when French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the historic monument in just five years. Speaking to a heartbroken audience from across the globe, he boldly reassured them that the cathedral would be even “more beautiful than ever.”

True to his word, Macron has overseen a mammoth effort to see a restored Notre-Dame rise up from the ashes. The fire, which broke out on April 15, spread rapidly, destroying two-thirds of the lead roof and the internal timber structure that had supported it since the 13th century. Just beneath these oak beams the stone vaulted ceiling was also severely damaged when the spire collapsed, tearing a hole through the transept vault and littering the central nave with rubble and debris.

A person takes a photo with a telephone of Notre Dame De Paris cathedral before its reopening in Paris, France, on December 4, 2024. Photo: Bastien Ohier / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via Getty Images.

The historic restoration over the last five years has seen the reconstruction of the damaged areas using the same traditional materials and many of the same methods as were used in the 13th century. Visitors will also be wowed by newly restored frescoes, waxed old wood, and stone surfaces scrubbed clean from several centuries worth of grime. Now, the latest photographs reveal, all these elements shine.

The project has relied on the collaboration of many artisans—carpenters, roofers, and art restorers—including those from the age-old Compagnons du Devoir, or “Companions of Duty” guild. Macron visited the cathedral last week morning to congratulate these dedicated workers who supported the vision of the cathedral’s longterm chief architect Philippe Villeneuve.

French president Emmanuel Macron speaks to a crowd gathered at Notre-Dame on November 29, 2024, ahead of its reopening. Photo: Christophe Petit Tesson/ POOL/ AFP via Getty Images.

“You are the alchemists of this project and you transformed coal into artistry,” he told the crowd. “The furnace of Notre-Dame was a national scar and you were its healing balm.”

The team will continue with more minor restoration efforts, first planned in 2017, until 2028. The last time the cathedral received a major touch-up was in the mid-19th century, courtesy of architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. His additions to the building included Gothic stone gargoyles on its façade and spectacular new stained glass.

The dazzling newly reconstructed cathedral of Notre-Dame will be opened to the public after a grand ceremony on December 7. In the meantime, we broke down the numbers behind this astonishing feat.

Headline Stats

861: Years since original construction began on the cathedral in 1163.

182: Years to complete original construction, which ended in 1345.

5.5: Years to complete the latest restoration, almost the exact same timeframe that president Macron had promised.

$900 million: Amount (€846 million) fundraised by 340,000 donors from 150 countries.

$57 million: Amount fundraised by 45,000 U.S. donors, according to French-American investor Anne Dias-Griffin speaking to CBS News.

Notre-Dame de Paris in 2019, before the fire. Courtesy of the World Monuments Fund.

$147.5 million: The leftover funds (€140 million) that will be spent on Phase 3 of a restoration of the façades, the roof of the sacristy, and the flying buttresses and the choir in 2025. Some sculptures and decorative features will also be restored with the remaining funds, Rebuilding Notre-Dame president Philippe Jost said in an interview with French television station BFMTV.

2,000: Roughly the number of craftspeople who helped rebuild the cathedral in what Macron called “the project of the century.” The workers, who include members of the elite “Compagnons du Devoir,” a guild of specialized artisans that dates back into the middle ages, burst into applause when Macron concluded his address at press briefing on Friday.

Photo: David Bordes. ©RNDP

15 million: Number of visitors that the Catholic Church expects to welcome to Notre-Dame each year, up from around 13 million before the fire. This amounts to around 40,000 visitors per day. Visitors must RSVP in advance using a free reservation system to manage visitor flows.

Fire and Damage

6:50 p.m. local time on April 15, 2019: The fire broke out. It is still not known exactly how the blaze began but it is believed to have been accidental with the two most likely causes being electrical issues or cigarettes smoked by workers assembling the scaffolding for the cathedral’s original restoration campaign.

7:53 p.m. local time on April 15, 2019: The spire collapsed as many Parisians watched in horror. “There’s a feeling of total sadness and also anger,” Camille, then a history student at the Sorbonne, told the Guardian. “It’s our heritage. People in the crowd have been singing hymns. Whether you’re Christian or not, part of our history is going up in smoke.”

Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on April 15, 2019, in the French capital Paris. Photo: Fabien Barrau / AFP via Getty Images.

8:07 p.m. local time on April 15, 2019: The roof collapsed. Further disaster was evaded thanks to the heroic efforts of the Paris fire fighters, who risked their lives to create a wall of water that prevented the flames reaching the magnificent west facade flanked by two towers.

3:40 a.m. local time on April 16, 2019: The fire department announced that the flames were under control. The blaze was not entirely extinguished until 9:30 a.m.

2,200 degrees F: Roughly the temperature at which the heat inside the cathedral peaked. For reference, the lead on the roof would have started melting once temperatures hit 621.5 degrees F.

Debris inside the Notre-Dame-de Paris Cathedral in Paris after a fire that devastated the building. Photo: Christophe Petit Tesson/POOL/AFP/ Getty Images.

8 inches: Roughly how high the vaults rose, temporarily, while their stone was dilated by extreme temperatures. When they fell back down again, they were not in exactly the same position. The endurance of the original medieval structure prompted chief architect Villeneuve to rebuild it exactly as it was. “Even now, no scholar can explain why Notre-Dame stays standing,” he told The Art Newspaper. “I just said, ‘She’s holding fast, let’s do what they did.’ And we did. And she’s still standing.”

Building Restoration

330 square feet: The height of the cathedral’s spire, which has been replaced by an identical replica made from 500 tons of oak covered in 250 tons of lead. In February, just enough scaffolding was removed to unveil the spire, a major milestone in the reconstruction efforts that offered visitors to the summer’s Paris 2024 Olympics a teaser of what was to come.

Scaffolding during renovation. Photo: Brieuc Clerc ©RNDP

45,900 cubic feet: Quantity of limestone used to restore the damaged walls and vaults. The original limestone used to build Notre-Dame was extracted from underground quarries dug beneath the city’s fifth and twelfth arrondissements; these same quarries were employed for the construction of the Chateau of Versailles. However, since these quarries are no longer in use, the stone was excavated from the region of Oise in northern France and cut in the Parisian industrial suburb of Gennevilliers.

Reconstruction of the upper surface of a vault. Photo: David Bordes. ©RNDP

450,000 square feet: Area of surviving limestone surfaces that were lovingly cleaned of grime, ash, and lead powder from the collapsed roof. It was treated with a high-power vacuum before a peel-off spray helped remove remaining dirt. Early visitors to the reconstructed cathedral reported being amazed at how even historic sections of the interior shined liked new.

1,500: Trees needed to rebuild the wooden lattice structure supporting the new cathedral roof, including oak trees aged around 150 years that were donated by state-owned French forests. In order to faithfully reconstruct the ceiling, the masons had to relearn the principles of Gothic architecture but these were guided by 21st-century digital techniques. For example, computer modeling was used to estimate the resistance of the wood as it ages, predicting that, just like its predecessor, it would last for many centuries to come.

3,000: The number of dowels that were painstakingly fashioned by a carpenter over four months, from oaks that had to match the wood of the structural beams.

A statue of Christ is craned back into place on the exterior of the cathedral. Photo: David Bordes. ©RNDP

2,150 square feet: Of chequerboard marble used to build new liturgical platform, where the main altar stands. It had been destroyed when the spire and transept vault collapsed in 2019. The 156 marble slabs have been laid over a metal frame and overall the platform weighs 110 tons. A new bronze altar was also commissioned by the diocese of Paris.

8,000: Organ pipes temporarily removed and cleaned at an undisclosed location in France. The tallest of these pipes are an impressive 32 feet, and luckily only one sustained water damage in the fight to contain the fire in 2019. When the organ was reinstalled it had to be tuned and harmonized to the cathedral’s specific acoustic environment, a very precise process that took about six months.

Artisans reproduced the cathedral’s famous gargoyles. Photo: Patrick Zachmann / Magnum Photos

56: Number of new gargoyles and chimeras added to Notre-Dame’s facade by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century after these fearsome creatures had been made famous by Victor Hugo’s popular novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The cathedral’s exterior statues were damaged by high-pressure hoses used to extinguish the flames in 2019. Most were cleaned and repaired, while five were digitally scanned and recreated in fresh limestone.

Art Restoration

21: Number of paintings from Notre-Dame that were saved from the fire and restored by a team of 50 conservationists. They were exhibited early this year at the “Restoring the Grand Decors of Notre-Dame” exhibition in Paris. The cathedral chapels’ many murals were also meticulously cleaned.

Photo: ©Arcanes

16: Number of copper statues—twelve Apostles and four Evangelists—that had, by a stroke of considerable luck, been removed for cleaning just days before the fire broke out. They have been returned to their original brown color, having turned green over years of oxidation and will be reinstalled next year.

3: New bronze bells installed to replace those destroyed by the fire. One of these is a gift from the Paris 2024 Olympics organizing committee and is inscribed with “Paris 2024.” It spent the summer installed by the side of the track at the Stade de France, where it was rung by each track and field winner. Now it will be rung during mass, joining a chorus of bells of which the heaviest is called Gabriel in the North Tower. He weighs a whopping 8,800 pounds.

Photo: Patrick Zachmann / Magnum Photos

2: Lost lead sarcophagi recovered during archaeology research at the site of Notre-Dame. This effort revealed the remains of a 1st-century structure and the burial site for some 1,000 people, including clergy members. The two lead coffins contained the remains of poet Joachim du Bellay, who died in 1560, and Canon Antoine de La porte, who died in 1710.

Detail of 13th-century sculpted blocks discovered during restoration work. Photo: © Denis Gliksman, Inrap.

1: Shiny new rooster placed atop the spire. The bird is considered a symbol of the French people because the Latin word gallus means both Gaul, an ancient region comprising modern-day France, and coq. Last week, Macron described the burning of Notre-Dame as a “tragedy that all French people endured.” The original rooster had contained three relics that miraculously survived the fire, including a small piece of what is claimed to be Christ’s crown of thorns. These are now stored inside the replacement rooster.

Controversies

120,000: Number of signatories on a petition to retain the building’s original rose window, commissioned by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, after Macron suggested a competition to commission a contemporary replacement. “What sense does it make to restore the cathedral to its last known historical state (before 15 April 2019), that of Viollet-le-Duc, only to deprive the building of an essential element that Viollet-le-Duc wanted?,” the petition asked. “Who gave the Head of State a mandate to alter a cathedral that does not belong to him, but to everyone?” The plan was eventually thwarted when Macron’s proposal was rejected by France’s National Heritage and Architecture Commission.

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. South rose. Photo by Godong/UIG via Getty Images.

100: Public figures and cultural experts who condemned plans by the diocese of Paris to “Disneyify” the landmark by introducing modern elements, including contemporary artworks, mood lighting, and potentially projections of bible excerpts onto the cathedral walls. Among the naysayers were public intellectuals like Alain Finkielkraut and Pierre Nora.

400 tons: The amount of lead from the roof and spire that went up in smoke, according to French authorities. Lead pollution became a concern three months after the 2019 fire. With no measures to address high levels, the French Labour Inspectorate warned of risks to workers, prompting Paris to halt Notre-Dame’s reconstruction and close the square, drawing significant media attention.

Photo: David Bordes. ©RNDP

42,327: Number of people who signed a petition against the felling of ancient oak trees to rebuild the cathedral roof’s internal wood structure. They declared that the mass felling would equate to “ecocide.” Officials insisted the oaks were scheduled to be cut down anyway as part of routine forest maintenance.

$5: Entry fee for non-E.U. visitors to the cathedral, proposed by French culture minister Rachida Dati. Admission has always previously been free. “It’s morally shocking,” said Ariel Weil, mayor of Paris Centre. “There’s no question of making the faithful pay.” Critics also highlighted the challenges of policing nationality at the entrance of Notre-Dame and other French landmarks that would be subject to similar policies.