• From the tip of the Île de la Cité, to the Petit-Pont, passing by the square Jean XXIII and the parvis de Notre-Dame, the entire perimeter adjoining the cathedral is affected by a redevelopment.

  • No "architectural gesture", no structure, will overshadow the cathedral, announces the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

  • Work should start in 2024, just after the Olympics.

    Period when the cathedral should be, at least partially, reopened to the public.

“Notre-Dame is a jewel that needs a setting.

The words used by Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, sum up the municipality's ambition for the cathedral and its surroundings.

This Monday, in the sumptuous Arcades salon of the Town Hall, the city council gathered its first deputy in charge of town planning and architecture, Emmanuel Grégoire, the rector and archpriest of the cathedral, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet and the mayor of Paris Center, Ariel Weil to present the four teams selected to work on the redevelopment of the five hectares surrounding the monument.

The star is Notre-Dame

From the tip of the Île de la Cité, to the Petit-Pont, passing through the square Jean XXIII and the square of Notre-Dame, the entire perimeter adjoining the cathedral is concerned. The objective is simple: take advantage of the renovation of the monument ravaged by a fire in April 2019 to “write a new chapter” on the Île de la Cité. No question of exuberance here, Anne Hidalgo insists on this point, the redevelopment will be ambitious but humble. Notre-Dame will remain the center of attention, the heart of the Island and of Paris. No “architectural gesture”, no structure, will overshadow the cathedral.

"We want Parisians to reclaim the place, while making it possible to receive the 12 to 20 million faithful, annual visitors and tourists," said Emmanuel Grégoire. If the specifications have not yet been written, the new organization will have to make it possible to "calm traffic", "to make the routes more fluid" and to offer a "warm welcome" to all those who wish to stroll on the site, according to Anne Hidalgo. The municipality also wishes to facilitate the approach on foot of the Seine, and to vegetate the site. Emmanuel Grégoire notably mentioned the square of Notre-Dame, which is highly mineralized and therefore conducive to the development of a heat island. Ariel Weil is also going in this direction and encourages the extension of green spaces: “If it were up to me, we would even extend these measures to the whole island. "

Our ambition for the enhancement of the surroundings of Notre-Dame is clear: to give it back all its beauty, to better highlight it to better reveal it, while respecting this exceptional heritage by fully registering it in the 21st century


. : //t.co/3SvBoNAWeu pic.twitter.com/6at2X0C8BS

- Emmanuel GREGOIRE (@egregoire) September 27, 2021

The first deputy also hopes to take advantage of the volume of the basements, with the disappearance of the underground parking lot in the square, to improve the reception facilities for tourists.

One thing is promised, “these basements will not be turned into a shopping center”.

If the task promises to be difficult with the abundant presence of historic buildings around the cathedral, such as the Sainte-Chapelle, the Hôtel Dieu or the Conciergerie, Anne Hidalgo hopes to "magnify" Notre-Dame with these redevelopments.

4 multidisciplinary teams

To create this large-scale “showcase”, the municipality launched an international call for applications and selected 4 applications out of the 39 received. These working groups were chosen on the basis of the criteria of diversity of profiles, balance of generations and parity, on the international, European and French components they contain, on their heritage sensitivity, with sobriety as the main asset. These multidisciplinary teams (landscapers, architects, design office, etc.) will now be able to work on the project that they will present at the very beginning of next year during a “competitive dialogue” to the jury which will make its decision to summer 2022.

The selected teams, present during the presentation, did not hide their joy at being able to work around such a monument.

"It is a fantastic challenge but also an immense weight", commented the landscape gardener Bas Smets, at the head of the group.

One of its competitors, Jacqueline Osty (Grand prix de l'urbanisme 2020) spoke of a project "loaded with symbols".

Our file on Notre-Dame

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, for his part, was delighted to see the surroundings of his cathedral transformed.

“It is a place that has continued to transform in history.

"He hopes to see the birth of an open place," a forum ".

Work should start in 2024, just after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Period when the cathedral should be, at least partially, reopened to the public.

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  • Town planning

  • Anne Hidalgo

  • Notre Dame of Paris

  • Notre-Dame de Paris fire

  • Paris