Paris (AFP)
The forecourt of Notre-Dame is empty of passers-by.
A palisade with photos of the construction site and a barnum where the remains in wood, stone and metal have been sorted out line the apse of the Gothic facade which soars towards the spring sky.
Upon entering, the visitor is struck by the deafening noise and the intense activity of the site.
The perspective of the nave is blocked by scaffolding.
If the lead has disappeared from the ambient air, it remains in the form of dust in every corner of the cathedral.
Everywhere rise metallic scaffolding from which the vaults are consolidated, with the help of wooden hangers.
"The difficulty is to be precise. You have to take it easy so as not to jerk, in order to really put the hanger in its place", explains to AFP the carpenter Yves Macel, wearing suit and helmet, which directs the site of the installation of the hangers.
They will prevent weakened stones from falling and will remain the time of the restoration, when the stonemasons intervene.
Around the gaping hole at the crossing of the transept caused by the collapse of the spire, rope access technicians, equipped with full face masks with cartridges, are busy.
They apply plaster in the cavities and at the end of the exposed stones to consolidate them.
Another temporary floor was installed in order to be able to clean the five-meter pipes of the great organ which, being too bulky, could not be removed.
In the Saint-Ferdinand chapel, one of the two renovated test chapels (out of 24 in total), shine bright colors found under the grime left by time and the smoke of the fire.
The architect Viollet-le-Duc, whose restoration in the 19th century is sometimes criticized for numerous additions, had his vision of a medieval cathedral: a symphony of bright and joyful colors.
© 2021 AFP