Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral to have a new firefighting system. A new security system that will allow it to serenely welcome the 14 million visitors expected for its reopening. Of the €848 million in donations collected for the reconstruction, €150 million were used for the clearing of the rubble and securing preparatory space for the launch of the project. The spire, still corseted with a forest of scaffolding, has reappeared in the sky of Paris, surmounted since December 6 by its cross. With less than a year to go before it reopens to the public, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral will have a " misting device in the attic and in the spire" which will prevent any fire from starting. A new security system that will allow it to serenely welcome the 14 million visitors expected for its reopening.

The Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, ravaged by a fire in 2019 and due to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024, will be equipped with a new firefighting system, Philippe Jost, who heads the public establishment in charge of the reconstruction site, announced on Wednesday. "Every precaution has been taken to completely rethink the fire protection" of Notre-Dame de Paris, a masterpiece of Gothic art, which could welcome "14 million visitors" annually after its reopening, two more than before the fire, Philippe Jost told the National Assembly's Cultural Affairs Committee, which was hearing him.

A unique "misting device"
The new firefighting system includes a "misting device, being deployed in the attic and in the spire, to smother any possible fire start, a first in a cathedral in France," added the former right-hand man of General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died accidentally this summer, and to whom he succeeded at the head of the establishment. The spire, still corseted with a forest of scaffolding, has reappeared in the sky of Paris, surmounted since December 6 by its cross. On Saturday, she will be reunited with her new rooster, which will be craned at the top after his blessing by the Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Laurent Ulrich.

Questioned by MPs about the concerns about the lead, which should cover the spire and the roof, Philippe Jost assured that "the lead cloud, following the fire, which has given rise to a lively controversy and complaints from local residents, has not visibly induced contamination" and that an unprecedented and "experimental system for treating runoff water" was being deployed "in order to set up a most suitable sustainable system". The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, visited the Notre-Dame construction site on December 8, one year to the day before the planned reopening of the cathedral to which he intends to invite Pope Francis. Regarding the six contemporary stained-glass windows that the Head of State has announced will be completed following a competition, Philippe Jost assured that "everyone will endeavour to ensure that the consultation and the projects examined are up to the level of the monument and make it possible to reassure the concerns that are raised today" among the defenders of the monument's past cultural, religious and aesthetic heritage.