Macron to visit Notre-Dame ahead of reopening

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00:00This is the last visit of the building site by Emmanuel Macron before it's open to the public

00:04in a week's time. It will be the seventh by the French president who, as you know, when

00:11Notre-Dame was destroyed and engulfed in flames here in central Paris, said that it would be

00:16rebuilt in five years. Well, that bet has indeed been won. It has taken five years.

00:23And just earlier on, I was talking to one of the women who took part in renovating all the

00:27interior wall paintings, 1,500 square meters of them. She said that this was, of course,

00:33an incredible challenge to have to redo such a vast expanse of interior painting in such a small

00:41time. But she said that, indeed, it had been done. Of course, she's one of the very few people who've

00:44seen the inside. And she said you will see the world has not seen it like that for the last 140

00:51years. All the people I've spoken to have seen the inside of the building, have said that it's

00:55absolutely exceptional. What's amazing apparently is the fact that there is light. The paintings

01:00are now visible. They were indeed engulfed in 140 years of dirt and dust. And indeed now,

01:07apparently, well, it is something light and airy. So I can't wait myself. I'm going to be one of the

01:12lucky ones to see the inside. But indeed, Emmanuel Macron is going to be walk through the whole

01:16cathedral. He will be visiting the whole building, including the rooftops, in order to inspect the

01:22work and also to speak to those who have indeed carried out this incredible feat, restoring this

01:29cathedral in just five years. James, you mentioned you're going to be one of the lucky ones. Indeed

01:33you are. Tell me, what are some of the aspects you're looking forward to the most?

01:40Well, to be honest, I'm looking forward to see the renewed cathedral. I mean,

01:46living in Paris, I've already seen it, of course, before. And it was indeed a bit gray and dingy,

01:51simply because it had not been cleaned up, if you will, for so many years. Apparently,

01:55what we're being told is that now all the paintings inside, including the frames,

02:01have all been cleaned up, that all the details are now visible, all the artwork that dates back

02:07for some parts to the 13th century. I was speaking earlier on today to one of the carpenters as well.

02:13He was telling me how brilliant those who designed these roofs back 800 years ago were. He said,

02:19you know, we have cranes today. They had to be so brilliant and crafty to take all these huge

02:25beams right up to the top of Notre-Dame. They said they use the same exact techniques. They say this

02:30is a perfect reproduction. Also, what I've been told, but this was by one of the architects,

02:35is that indeed it is extremely rare to see a cathedral being restored to that extent in such

02:42a small amount of time. Usually these restorations are carried out over the years. One small part

02:48will be redone, and then 10 years later, another part, and then a third part. This time, if you

02:53like, the whole cathedral is going to appear completely new. Of course, for Emmanuel Macron,

02:58this visit is an opportunity to thank all those who took part. 1,300 of them are going to be

03:03inside the cathedral, and they will be attending this visit. This is the moment where the most

03:07amount of people working on the cathedral will be inside it at the same time.

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