The day after the inferno struck Notre Dame on April 15, 2019, Philippe Villeneuve walked despondently into the remains of his cathedral. Smoke choked the spring air, the spire lay in rubble, and charred beams littered the nave. “We had lost the framework, the roof, the spire, and three sections of the vault,” Villeneuve, its chief architect since 2013, said.

Yet just hours earlier, President Emmanuel Macron had issued an extraordinary decree: Notre Dame would rise again — in just five years. “There was one sole (problem),” Villeneuve said in an interview with The Associated Press, “the deadline.”

It felt impossible. Yet as Villeneuve stepped through the wreckage with doubts in his mind, he was caught by surprise. Terrifying as it was to see the charred remains of the 861-year-old Gothic treasure, a beacon of hope emerged.

“All the stained-glass windows were spared, the great organ, the furniture, the paintings — everything was intact,” he realized. “It was doable."

Macron’s decree became the driving force behind the most prominent restoration in modern French history. The announcement sparked unprecedented global support, with donations quickly nearing $1 billion.

Yet, other obstacles came in waves. First, the fire’s immediate aftermath brought a lead contamination crisis that halted work for a month, and woke the world up to the dangers of lead dust. Then came the pandemic, forcing workers off site. Weather, too, seemed to conspire, with heavy rains delaying the removal of the scorched scaffolding that had fused into a skeletal reminder of the disaster.

But Villeneuve persisted, working with his team on what he called the “presidential building site” to redefine what was possible under extraordinary conditions. He lobbied for the final reopening date to be delayed from April of this year to align with December 8 — a Catholic holy day celebrating Mary’s conception without sin.

His irreverent sense of humour — delivered amid expletives, and with a childlike grin — seems to have carried him through the five years. But as the reopening fast approaches, Villeneuve confessed his lingering anxiety. “I’m not calm — not at all. I’m completely stressed out,” he said.

AP