Copper-coated figures are being returned to cathedral’s reconstructed spire after devastating blaze of 2019
Sixteen giant statues are to be hoisted back on to the spire of Notre Dame in the latest step of the cathedral’s €700m (£600m) reconstruction after the devastating fire of 2019.
The copper-coated figures, each weighing almost 150kg, escaped the blaze because they were removed from the Parisian landmark for renovation just four days before flames consumed the roof and destroyed the spire.
On Monday evening, after a blessing from the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, the statue of Saint Thomas will be returned to the reconstructed spire. The depictions of the 11 other apostles and four evangelists will be put back “in stages” according to the Notre Dame team.
The statues were designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc for his 19th-century overhaul of Notre Dame and made by the sculptor, Adolphe Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume.
