The restored interior of Notre Dame Cathedral has been unveiled for the first time after more than five years of reconstruction work.
The rebuilt soaring ceilings and cream stonework erased sombre memories of a devastating fire in 2019.
Images broadcast live of a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron showed the inside of the famous cathedral as worshippers might have experienced in medieval times, its wide, open spaces filled with bright light on a crisp and sunny winter’s day that lit up the vibrant colours of the stained glass windows.
Outside, the monument is still a construction site, with scaffolding and cranes.
But the renovated interior – shown in its full glory on Friday for the first time before the public is allowed back in on December 8 – proved to be breathtaking.
Gaping holes left in the vaulted ceilings and charred piles of debris are now gone.
New stonework has been carefully pieced together to repair and fill the wounds that had left the cathedral’s insides exposed to the elements.
Delicate golden angels look on from the centrepiece of one of the rebuilt ceilings, soaring again above the transept.
The cathedral’s bright, cream-coloured limestone walls look brand new, cleaned not only of dust from the fire but also of grime that had accumulated for centuries.
The cathedral attracted millions of worshippers and visitors annually before the fireon April 15 2019 forced its closure and turned the monument in the heart of Paris into a no-go zone except to artisans, architects and others mobilised for the reconstruction.
Mr Macron entered via the cathedral’s giant and intricately carved front doors and stared up at the ceilings in wonder. He was accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, the archbishop of Paris and others.
Powerful vacuum cleaners were used to first remove toxic dust released when the fire melted the cathedral’s lead roofs.
Fine layers of latex were then sprayed onto the surfaces and removed a few days later, taking dirt away with them. Cleaning gels were also used on some walls that had been painted, removing many years of accumulated dirt and revealing their bright colours once again.
Carpenters worked by hand like their medieval counterparts as they hewed giant oak beams to rebuild the roof and spire that collapsed like a flaming spear into the inferno. The beams show the marks of the carpenters’ handiwork, with dents made on the woodwork by their hand axes.
Some 2,000 oak trees were felled to rebuild roof frameworks so dense and intricate that they are nicknamed “the forest”.
Mr Macron’s visit kicked off a series of events ushering in the reopening of the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece.
At the end of his tour, the president addressed hundreds of workers gathered inside the cathedral and thanked them for their labours on what he called the “building site of the century.”
“The shock of the re-opening will, I want to believe, be as powerful as the one of the fire. But it will be a shock of hope,” he said.
“The inferno of Notre Dame was a wound for the nation. And you were its remedy.”
He will return on December 7 to deliver an address and attend the consecration of the new altar during a solemn Mass the following day.
Mr Macron’s administration hailed the reconstruction as a symbol of national unity.