Notre Dame's new golden spire with golden rooster unveiled five years after the fire

Monuments and historical figures are part of the rich heritage every location holds. For Paris, the Notre Dame Cathedral has been standing for decades and its rich construction itself explains the volume and weight the structure holds in the history of the place. 2019 saw the priceless cathedral devastatingly burn down in a fire and officials and authorities have only been thinking about how to get the Notre Dame standing back proudly. After 5 long years, the Notre Dame was finally unveiled revealing the efforts of hundreds of people who helped put together the magnificent monument back to its stature, per USA Today.

President Emmanuel Macron had given a 5-year deadline to restore the cathedral in 2019 considering the damage and the magnitude of work to be done. Ever since the site has been closed to the public due to possible circuits and to avoid danger. Federico Benani, a resident beside the cathedral, discovered the newly erected spire and was emotional, per CBS News. "I open the window in the morning. I see Notre Dame. I see the spire—it's beautiful for me and it's much better (than) before. It gives us hope,” Benani said. The fire back in 2019 had damaged the upper and top portions of the cathedral but the sturdy vault-like structure prevented much inner damage.

While major relics have been able to be restored and preserved, there have been some changes made. According to the National Catholic Register, the French Parliament enacted a law that mandated that the cultural, historic and architectural interests be maintained while reconstructing the building. While the cathedral has been unveiled, the opening is far away considering the serious scaffolding the building suffered which is still to fall off and be fixed. With over $1 billion in contributions for its repair, the cathedral will likely open in December 2024. However, the new and revamped design of the tourist attraction has a new design. The spire at the top of the cathedral is completed with a golden rooster that was blessed and unveiled.

The Spokesman reported that one of the historians studying the restoration of the cathedral as it is reconstructed is amazed at the progress. Jennifer Feltman said that the unveiling was “just remarkable.” “For them to be at this point has required a great deal of dedication,” she said. Meredith Cohen, another medieval historian, mentioned that the infusion of 21st-century creativity with the need to maintain 19th-century artistic values is intriguing. She said, “This is just a spire built in the 21st century to look like a 19th-century spire. It’s toying with history and not being visually transparent."

The rooster has a symbolic value behind it. It is designed as a phoenix and is said to mark the rise of the cathedral from ashes. The phoenix also resembles resilience and renewal, two attributes closely connected with the cathedral over the last five years. The cathedral is more than just a tourist attraction, it is a place of worship for Catholics, a sentiment to many and a relishing historic space holding much pride and beauty of France. People are looking forward to the reconstruction and welcoming the reconstructed structure in December. The Archdiocese of Paris is handling the upkeep of the same along with other officials to ensure that the relevant intricacies of the cathedral are restored as much as possible.