[Music] it was both a marathon and a Sprint an intricate puzzle and the greatest of all challenges for 4 years now we've taken you on a journey around France's most closely scrutinized construction site between tradition and modernity technology fit for the 2020s combined with traditional techniques a jewel of the Middle Ages whose fate was entrusted to thousands of men and women across [Music] France a monument restored identically to the cathedral designed in 1844 we're inviting you to join us one last time [Music] taking you behind the scenes of what the whole world will remember as the building site of the [Music] century let's go back to the start it's the 15th of April 2019 a little before 8:00 p. m. the Spire of nraam has just been engulfed in flames to the horrified cries of witnesses an image that would travel the world the cathedral Spire collapsed into the building 4 and a half years later it took months to erect a 600 ton scaffold so the Spire could be rebuilt with a year to go before it was due to reopen the new cockeral statue that was to Tower above it was blessed by the Archbishop of Paris this gilded copper statue was designed by the Chief Architect this cockr has the virtue of being a memorial a reminder 100 met above the ground so it's not something that's very visible from here but when it's up there people will realize that it's not that big but it's important that this cockroll means that something happened on the 15th of April and that the cathedral Rose From the Ashes placed inside the Statue alongside three relics a sealed cylinder containing a list of names those of the 2,000 specialist Artisans who took part in the whole project with its wings in the shape of flames the statue resembles a phoenix as it's hoisted to its place on top of the [Applause] Spire a symbolic reward under the Golden Skies of Paris the animal representing those who wait for the coming of a new dawn in February 2024 the gradual dismantling of this Forest made of metal Finally Revealed the spire and its ornaments restoring the cathedral's historic silhouette Standing Tall at 96 m above the ground this spire once again marks Ground Zero the starting point for all of France's roads 300 kilm away in V juli puel Northwest France will'll have access to some of notrad Dam's Central elements without which the cathedral would lose a vital part of its identity so here we are in the workshop of the corny Harvard Bell Foundry this is the workshop in Normandy where we made the bells for nraam in Paris in 2012 damaged by the fire these giant instruments have returned to where they were created 12 years ago the 850th anniversary of the cathedral the first step was to assess the damage to the eight bells in the north belfrey we started by doing an acoustic analysis we weighed the bells to check that the weight note sizing and qualitative elements hadn't been altered since 2012 and that was the case we had a few doubts about two of the Bells so we carried out a heat treatment and Welding on one of them to restore its original Integrity the Integrity of a bell is mainly determined by how it rings it needs to be examined to ensure the heat hasn't affected its note this is Marcel she's 12 years old and weighs almost 2,000 kilos [Music] it may not seem like it but at this level of precision the ear alone cannot do the job a very good musician will perceive a difference of 10 hundredths of the semmit tone here we're at 100 of a semitone all the ringing we did in 2012 was based on the historic note of Emanuel which sounds an FP in the second octave at- 55 100 pitch 440 and all the new Bells have been designed to ring with a manual in Perfect Harmony whether in terms of sound power or whether in terms of notes another major challenge is the size and weight of the eight Bells we're in a relatively small City Center Workshop in terms of space so we had to create a system to secure the bells store them and keep them safe as the restoration work progressed two young designers were chosen to create the rack based on two criteria to reflect the Aesthetics of the site as well as to support 17 tons of bell the biggest Gabriel weighs just over 4.
1 tons and the smallest jie is 800 kilos each Bell Bears this tribute to St Augustine via vurus quit the route that seeks out Travelers it is for those Travelers that the bells will ring again in the meantime we're back in the capital at the top of the construction site where a crucial stage is about to be completed an unobstructed view over the roofs of Paris enjoyed by Philip just who was taken over from General je as head of the construction site we don't want to be in competition with what you've done we know it's symbolic but it's a symbol to which we're personally attached I suggest your grace that you place the first Peg very well this formalized gesture marks the end of the restoration of notrad Dam's roof structure it's identical to the one nicknam the forest that burned in 2019 it's going wonderfully Olivia it's like you've been doing this all your life my dear Philip I don't think so this is a very important step from every point of view symbolically speaking it's also a very fine piece of work finished by hand to an extraordinary standard the skills being deployed on this side are truly fabulous they are a credit to France at the same time we have a nice moment a traditional moment for Carpenters the bouquet in this notam Spirit you can hear the cheers it's a very beautiful moment to celebrate the end more than 40 carpenters and framers Adorn the fruits of their labor with the traditional final bouquet less than a year to go before the building reopens these craft people are saying goodbye to the site a moment of Pride and emotion it's a young team yes it's a very young team we're both 30 years old but we are part of a team that was there more or less from the start so we've been able to follow the development of the site obviously a year on you can't help but be impressed we have butterflies as you might say magic has been done here it's something that will stay with you all your life we'll remember for the rest of our lives there's a lot Humanity in these structures and that's why they're so beautiful it's because there are so many people the more human there is the more beautiful it is it's got soul there's soul and meaning soul and meaning a phrase that The gagas Artisans wouldn't argue against we have another meeting in this provance commune this time 700 km away from Ground Zero the matchu chandelier Factory took up residence here in 2002 in these former ochre factories but the company handed down from generation to generation was first set up after the second world war Reis Machu took over from his mother at 19 years old and his daughter Enis joined the family business 2 years ago the fact that I started out with notam is a source of great pride and I'm pleased it marks the future succession of the company awarded the living Heritage label the workshop has been maintaining the cathedral's candelabras and chandeliers as well as restoring original nraam architect VI lek's great crown of Light which was moved to the Basilica of sandini in 2014 10 years later despite the experienced game there's still many challenges to overcome in the wake of the fire there were some lights that had fallen down they were completely destroyed or in any case half the chandelier was completely twisted or dented we had to recreate some pieces because they disappeared over time it's all about a dozen skills around the industry there are cross people who spend about two months per chandelier restoring them my name's Gregory I'm a bronze fitter I'm matild and I'm an electrical fitter I'm Mikel I'm an electroplater and I do the patinas I'm Mex site manager and responsible for light fittings my name is Je I'm a polisher the 100 or so pieces entrusted to the shandelier experts are first depolish the lead is removed and then they pass into the hands of jeanu can you see the varnish we're going to strip it off with this solvent the start of a long process there were 16 arms per chandelier 16 arms for 13 chandeliers each taking roughly 30 minutes that's 104 hours of work or more than 4 days just for this one step but after stripping then cleaning comes the polishing J's speciality [Music] that's the miracle with notam there are always miracles but the miracle would not be complete without the final stage the varnishing and here again the Supernatural is called into play Mrmat calls me the magician I took a light fitting that was in Fairly good condition to get my color reference it took more than 50 tries to get this result that's the original color you can see there you can't tell the difference from the original color it's on purpose when you see the chandeliers upstairs you're happy you think that's our work people walk past it and they don't even realize that's the fun of it that's rewarding for us you looking forward to seeing the results oh yes I'm definitely going there a cathedral without its lights is so sad you don't get that aspect that luster that makes you look up that's what makes us look at the whole Cathedral it's what makes the walls Shine the paintings shine it's what brings it to life the chandeliers will soon be returning to the central Nave of nraam giving it back what had been lost in the fire a little bit of soul but before the doors open again the cathedral will also have a moment to catch its breath we enter just after the workers have left under the eye of the West Rose the great organ resounds once again as the construction hammers finally fall silent it's 9:57 almost 10 p. m.
