Rebuilding Notre-Dame

Produced by the Targo studio, the virtual reality experience was conceived from real images filmed in 360 video a few months before the fire, then in December 2019 as close as possible to the destruction. To bring visitors into the most visited monument in Paris, which has been inaccessible since the fire on 15 April 2019, the production team obtained exceptional authorisation to access the interior of the destroyed cathedral. The images were taken by drone and by rover, a remote-controlled device made indispensable by the lead contamination.

Today, Notre-Dame is still inaccessible to the public. After the phase of securing the site, then the phase of the project's state of affairs, the reconstruction phase started at the beginning of 2022. A thousand oak trees have been donated by the regions of France to rebuild the main framework between the towers. In early 2023, reconstruction will begin according to the plans drawn up at the time by Viollet Leduc. Then will come the frameworks of the nave and the heart. The reconstruction of Notre-Dame, and in particular its spire, has been the subject of debate between supporters of modernisation and those who wanted it to be rebuilt identically. President Macron has decided: the general principle is to rebuild identically, while offering "a new youth" to the building. The end of the work is planned for 2024

The history of Notre Dame de Paris began in the 12th century with Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, who launched its construction. The project dedicated to the Virgin Mary was also part of a major redevelopment of Paris. The construction work lasted about two centuries. The cathedral is part of French history: the reception of the Holy Crown in 1239, the coronation of Napoleon I six centuries later and the funerals of great politicians such as Georges Pompidou and François Mitterrand. Before the fire of 15 April 2019, it was visited by 13 million visitors per year.