The "blank assembly", carried out for two days on the industrial site of Briey (Meurthe-et-Moselle), aims to ensure that the different elements of the base will fit together properly when they are assembled on the roof of Notre-Dame.

The spire, which will measure 66 meters like its nineteenth-century model, consists of five parts, including a "stool", its base on four supports made of exceptional oak, which alone weighs 80 tons.

Slowly, cranes lifted the legs of this "stool", so that they fit to the millimeter in the central deck.

The elements of the stool will then be dismantled and "transported in the next few days to the site in Paris, where they will be assembled and craned before taking their final place, thirty meters high, at the four corners of the crossing of the transept," said a spokeswoman for the site.

"Pivotal moment"

This blank assembly is a "pivotal moment", comments Rémi Fromont, one of the three chief architects of the reconstruction of the monument. "We go from theory to practice, it's the dress rehearsal before the real lifting and the pose on the cathedral in April," he explained.

"For four months, we have traced and validated the plans, then traced the spurs on the ground according to the ancestral method of stitching and lineage," explains Patrick Jouenne, head of carpenters.

Carpenters assemble the "stool", i.e. the base on which the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris will rest, during a rehearsal on March 16, 2023 in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle © Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP

"It's the construction site of a lifetime," he continues. "This reconstruction is a masterpiece."

The wood used to make the stool comes from pieces from exceptionally sized oaks, harvested in the forest of Bercé, in the Sarthe.

Redoing the frame of Notre-Dame also means "perpetuating the tradition in tracing and assembling carpenters of the time," says Mathias Gauthier-Morfoise, works manager at Cruard, one of the companies in charge of the project.

Delivery on April 15

Appointed by Emmanuel Macron to lead the restoration of the cathedral, General Jean-Louis Georgelin is pleased to see that "the commitment made in terms of deadlines will be kept, with patience and tenacity. The reputation of the France is at stake!"

"Soon we will see in the sky of Paris the arrow and its rooster," he adds. "Delivery of the stool is scheduled for April 15, 2023, four years after the fire."

The famous spire, identical to the previous one designed by the architect Viollet-le-Duc and which had collapsed in the fire of April 15, 2019, "should appear again in the sky of Paris by the end of the year," said in early February the public establishment project owner of the reconstruction site.

Carpenters assemble the "stool", i.e. the base on which the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris will rest, during a rehearsal on March 16, 2023 in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle © Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP

It will also culminate at 96 meters from the ground, with the same original materials, oak for the structure (220 tons) and lead for the cover and ornaments (140 tons).

The cathedral is scheduled to reopen in late 2024, according to the Ministry of Culture.

Philippe Villeneuve, Notre Dame's chief architect since 2013, described himself as "the most unfortunate chief architect in the world" when he saw the cathedral burn. "Today, I am the happiest architect in the world, to see it rise from the ashes like a phoenix."

© 2023 AFP