France will rebuild Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral within five years, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged today.
The famous cathedral was heavily damaged yesterday in a fire, which investigators believe was accidental, according to various reports. However, firefighters saved the building from destruction.
Some experts believe it will take a decade or longer to rebuild the structure.
“We will rebuild Notre-Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it,” Reuters quoted Macron as saying.
“It is up to us to convert this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project.”
Workers laid the cornerstone for the church was 1163. It took workers nearly two centuries to complete construction.
The fire destroyed the spire and two-thirds of the roof.
“France cries and with her all her friends from all over the world,” Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit wrote in a statement posted to Notre Dame’s website. “She is touched to the heart because her stones are the testimony of an invincible hope which, by the talent, the courage, the genius and the faith of the builders, raised this luminous lace of stones, wood and glass.”
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. Several high-profile individuals have donated millions of dollars to aid in the repairs of the cathedral.
