Two and a half years have passed since the fire that almost wiped Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris off the map. The safety and consolidation works are finally complete, followed now by the restoration phase. Announced this Saturday by the public institution responsible for its conservation. Notre Dame Cathedral is expected to reopen to the public in 2024.

According to the newspaper "Sol", the safety works began on April 16, 2019, one day after the fire. In a statement, is the assurance that "the cathedral is now completely safe". In this first phase the dismantling of the scaffolding structure that was in place at the time the flames engulfed the historic monument was carried out. The organ was dismantled, wooden locks were placed on the arches, and the most sensitive areas were fixed. The way forward! The next phase "has been actively prepared and is now decisively committed to launching the first restoration works this winter."

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, had promised that Notre Dame Cathedral would be rebuilt in five years. And in 2024 the monument will, in principle, even reopen. "We will be able to move firmly ahead with the phase of restoration and reconstruction of the parts destroyed by the fire, so that it will be ready to reopen for services and for public visits in 2024," said Jean-Louis Georgelin. According to Gerogelin it is clear: the reopening date is a "victory for all of France."

Also the task force for this mission, called Rebâtir Notre-Dame or Rebuild Notre-Dame, said in a statement on Facebook on Saturday that the cathedral was on track to reopen in 2024. This meets the President's lofty and also ambitious deadline of opening in the year when Paris irk to host the next edition of the Olympic Games.

The safety phase suffered some constraints and was even interrupted during the covid-19 pandemic.

The rebuilding of the 850-year-old cathedral has caused a stir: for some, like former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the monument should really be reborn from the ashes, with a more modern touch. Edouard Philippe announced an international architects' competition for the work in 2019, which would "question" whether the monument should be recreated as "designed by (architect Eugene) Viollet-le-Duc". The idea did not move forward: last year, President Macron decided that the entire cathedral would be rebuilt as it was before - including the tower, which was made of wood and was consumed in the first hours of the fire.

"We will rebuild Notre-Dame, because that is what the French people are waiting for. Because that is what our history is worthy of. Because that is our deep destiny," the visibly emotional President told reporters at the site of the fire in 2019.

All help is welcome, after all the Cathedral is part of the history of france and attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. Whether for its Gothic style, its history, or even the animated films recreating the legends of the monument that so many people saw as children. The Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris is an example of such help: an organization that wants to restore the monument and is looking for donations to bring back to life the famous dozens of gargoyles, statues and also paintings that Notre-Dame used to feature.

But donations arrived (and arrive) from all over the world, like some coming from the richest families in France. Days after the fire, several individuals, companies or associations made several million euros available for reconstruction.