' NOTRE-DAME ' KNOCKS NORTHWARD ' : PRECIS

 

PARIS : After fire gutted the famed cathedral in 2019, a vast rebuilding effort began.

The embers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was still hot when President Emmanuel Macron vowed that France would rebuild it to be '' more beautiful than ever.''

Then the French leader gave a deadline so ambitious it took many aback : '' I want this to be finished in five years,'' Mr. Macron said.

It was April 2019, and flames had just torn through the 860-year-old Gothic monument, obliterating its ancient wood and lead roofing and sending the tip of its spire crashing through the stone vaults below.

Some said the deadline was feasible. Others said it was wildly unrealistic.

Now after five and a half years and about $900 million worth of donations, the rebuilding effort is on the verge of success.

Renovations to the cathedral's exterior will continue, but the bulk of what was destroyed has been restored.

The World Students Society thanks Aurelien Breeden.