Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, whose spire and roof were destroyed by April 15, 2019, fire, is expected to be rebuilt within the five-year deadline set by the French government.

As confirmed by the head of the construction site, French Army Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, in an interview with the Associated Press, the faithful and tourists should have access to the site again by the end of 2024.

Reconstruction work only began some 24 months after the incident occurred, with the first phase consisting of cleaning and securing the site, involving more than 200 different companies.

Although the beloved cathedral will not be ready for the Olympic Games to be held in the French capital in July and August 2024, it should have regained its former shape by then, with the reconstruction phase of its emblematic spire to begin in April.

Before the end of the year, therefore, Notre Dame Cathedral should reappear in the Parisian sky as it was originally designed by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century.

In a Dec. 1, 2022, communiqué issued by the Public Establishment in Charge of the Conservation and Restoration of the Cathedral, Georgelin had already announced “major advances” in the progress of the project.

After the spire and transept, reconstruction of the large roof of the nave and of the choir, whose frameworks date back from the beginning of the 13th century, will take place.

The wood that will be used to rebuild the frame was blessed by the rector of the cathedral, Bishop Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, on Dec. 15, 2022. The beams were entirely handmade in a medieval manner.

The blessing was perceived as the real kickoff of the effective reconstruction of Notre Dame’s roof after several months of study and preparatory work.

The project officials have estimated that approximately 1,000 people throughout France are working daily on the restoration process.

Georgelin expects the exterior restoration of the blaze damage will cost about 550 million euros ($580.5 million), 150 million euros ($158 million) having already been spent to secure the building. In 2021, several observers expressed their concern over the additional costs incurred during this preliminary phase, wondering if the available funds would be sufficient for the completion of the work.

According to the director of the Cathedral Fund, Christophe-Charles Rousselot, the 800 million euros ($844 million) collected from more than 300,000 donors around the world will be enough money to entirely restore the framework and the roof and to redo the spire.

“It will be enough to repair the consequences of the fire. But there will not be enough money to repair the whole cathedral,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien in March 2022, estimating that a total of 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) would probably be needed to repair the north and south facades of the building, which are not included in the current rebuilding project.

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