Simply French

Seven years ago, Paris watched the spire of Notre-Dame fall.

It had been designed by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and installed in 1859 — not the original medieval spire, but the one the world knew. It stood 315 feet (96 meters) above the ground. Its lead covering alone weighed 250 tons.

As the fire burned through its wooden frame on the night of April 15, it tilted, then collapsed, punching through the stone vaults below and opening a hole in the ceiling of the cathedral.

At the very top of the spire was a small golden rooster containing three relics: a fragment of the Crown of Thorns, a relic of Saint Denis, and a relic of Saint Geneviève — the patron saint of Paris. The rooster was recovered from the rubble. It had survived.

Rebuilding the spire required around 1,000 pieces of oak. Some of the trees used were planted during the reign of Louis XIV — in the 17th century, when the Sun King needed timber for his navy. Those oaks had been growing for more than 300 years before they were felled for Notre-Dame.

The new spire was built identically to Viollet-le-Duc's 1859 design. A new golden rooster was placed at the top in December 2023, blessed by the Archbishop of Paris. The scaffolding came down in February 2024.

Notre-Dame reopened on December 7, 2024.