A crane lifts the statue to be placed back atop the the spire of Notre-Dame. Photo: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty.
Readers will be aware of my fascination with Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, an architectural wonder that has literally risen from the ashes pf a terrible fire. The restoration work was largely completed in time for the reopening in December 2024. Some aspects of bringing the cathedral back to its glory continue, including some of the statues perched high aloft where many visitors won't notice them. Miraculously (some say) they had been removed before the fire for restoration or they would have been destroyed.
The statues were stored in a SOCRA workshop in 2019 before being restored. Photo: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty.
I am quite fond of St. Thomas, unjustly characterized as a doubter. I hadn't realized that he is the patron saint of architects, Here is a description of what has unfolded:
On June 23, after six years of restoration work and following a blessing from the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, the first of 16 larger-than-life copper statues was returned to its perch atop Notre-Dame’s spire, the latest step in the cathedral’s roughly $900 million rebuild.
The first statue to be reinstalled was in some ways a symbolic choice: Saint Thomas, the patron saint of architects, whose face is said to have been modeled off Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the Gothic Revival architect who thoroughly—and controversially—overhauled the façade of Notre-Dame in the mid-19th century.
The group of statues is comprised of the 12 apostles and the animals that represent the four evangelists: an angel for Saint Matthew, a lion for Saint Mark, a bull for Saint Luke, and an eagle for Saint John. The copper-coated statues are 11 feet tall, weight 500 pounds, and are arranged in groups of four around Notre Dame’s 300-foot spire.