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# Notre-Dame de Paris nearly lost on 15 April 2019 and the restoration of the cathedral
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/5-let-nazad-15-aprelia-2019-goda-chelovechestvo-chut-ne-poterialo-odno-iz-velichaishikh-sooruzhenii-nashei-ery-sobor-notr-dam-de-pari/
- Published: 2024-04-18T05:31:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:41:11.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Heritage, Paris

5 years ago, on 15 April 2019, humanity nearly lost one of the greatest structures of our era, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. They say that no more than half an hour remained before the masterpiece of a church was destroyed.

The first stone of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Paris is believed to have been laid in 1163\. Long before Victor Hugo immortalised Notre-Dame de Paris in his Gothic novel, royalty were married here and the rulers of France were crowned, and Joan of Arc was beatified here.

It was Notre-Dame that Napoleon chose as the place to crown himself Emperor in 1804.

Happily, today we can see the restoration of the cathedral almost complete, the building appearing in an almost authentic form, if we do not count the new figure of a golden cockerel on its spire, with a reliquary holding thorns from the Crown of Thorns.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11961@18-04-2024_08-31-51.jpg)