Three years ago, images of the Notre-Dame-de-Paris fire were seen around the world.

After the stupor, thousands of men and women contributed to securing this historic monument.

Architects, scientists, painters, craftsmen... And the site is now preparing to welcome restorers.

The mobilization is national.

The windchests of the great organ are repaired in Occitania.

The largest instrument in France – in terms of register – was spared the flames.

But its some 8,000 pipes, as well as its windchests responsible for distributing the air, had to be dismantled one by one and decontaminated before reaching the restoration workshops.

Windchests of the great organ of Notre-Dame-de-Paris.

© Melina Huet, France 24

In the Pays de la Loire, century-old oaks were felled and then sawn to form the future stool of the spire, at the top of Notre-Dame cathedral.

This work by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, architect of the restoration of the cathedral in the 19th century, was destroyed by the flames.

The spire will be rebuilt identically and therefore needs these extraordinary trees, which once peaked at forty meters high.

Lead and salt, the invisible enemies

The presence of lead is one of the big issues on this site.

More than four hundred tons of this metal melted on April 15, 2019 and flew away in the form of toxic dust.

Dust removal from the cathedral is underway and should be completed before the summer of 2022. At the same time, a desalination project had to be implemented.

For three years, the humidity caused by the firefighters' water, then by bad weather, has caused salts to migrate to the surface of the stones.

As the vaults threaten to crumble, a team has deployed to put this invisible enemy out of harm's way.

Desalination site at Notre-Dame-de-Paris.

© Georges Yazbeck, France 24

Salt, lead, bad weather, the Covid-19 pandemic but also exceptional archaeological discoveries: these setbacks cannot interfere with the reopening target set for 2024, for the Summer Olympics in Paris.

>> See also, the previous section: "Notre-Dame de Paris, two years after the fire"

The Notre-Dame CNRS / Ministry of Culture scientific project is developed in collaboration with the public establishment responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame-de-Paris Cathedral.

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