This year, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will not be able to hold Christmas Mass because the repair and renovation work has not been completed since the fire broke out last April. "This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will not be a midnight mass at Notre Dame," said the cathedral's rector, Patrick Chauvet.
Exterior view of Notre Dame Cathedral during repairs
The Notre Dame Cathedral management chose Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois as the temporary venue because of its proximity to Notre Dame and right next to the Louvre Museum. This helps the clergy who live near the cathedral to have less difficulty in traveling.
In more than 200 years, the 850-year-old cathedral has only had to close once, during the anti-Catholic Revolution of 1803. And even after that, even during the most intense years of the two world wars, including the Nazi occupation in World War II, the cathedral has never had to cancel such an important mass.
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in full splendor on Christmas 2017
However, a fire on the night of April 15, 2019, engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral in a terrible blaze. The fire broke out in the evening and quickly spread to the roof of the building, destroying wooden structures before causing the tallest tower to collapse. The fire was later controlled by 400 firefighters, although there were no human casualties, the cultural symbol of the city of light suffered a lot of damage.
Image recorded at the fire last April
Notre Dame Cathedral is a religious building representing the Gothic architectural style in France, and is also the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris. The church was built from 1163 and completed in 1345. The two towers on the facade, 69 m high, were the highest point in Paris until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.
French President Emmanuel Macron has set a five-year timeline for repairs and the French Culture Ministry says nearly 1 billion euros (about 27 billion VND) has been raised to complete the urgent task.
