The surroundings of Notre-Dame will be better adapted to global warming by 2028

The city is preparing to file planning and construction permits around the building to begin work in the fall of 2025, with a budget of 50 million euros. And three years later, in 2028, "return to the cathedral the setting in which it will be able to shine, in a calm and peaceful environment," promised PS mayor Anne Hidalgo.

The main challenge of the project: adapting the surroundings of the masterpiece of Gothic art, affected by a fire in 2019, to global warming. "This is the first question we asked ourselves, so that this heritage legacy that we have received as an inheritance can be fully integrated into a XNUMXst century city," she explained during a press conference.

A city where summers are increasingly hot, especially on the very mineral forecourt of the cathedral. "We are not going to change everything, we are part of a long history that we want to develop to be more resilient to climate change," explained Bas Smets, the Belgian landscape architect in charge of the development project for the forecourt, designed "like a clearing."

In total, 150 trees will be planted on either side of the forecourt, in particular to organize queues in the shade in the summer for visitors (12 to 15 million per year), specified Patrick Bloche, the first deputy.

On the square, a thin five-millimeter blade of water will be activated punctually "to refresh the air instantly by evaporation," explained Bas Smets.

The forecourt will remain a mineral floor, with limestone slabs of dimensions similar to those inside the cathedral.

The work will also tackle the underground passages of the forecourt, with the transformation of the current car park, closed since the fire, into a reception area. A "large covered promenade" of 3.000 m2, describes Susanne Elisson, from the GRAU agency in charge of its development.

Exit the intermediate slab of the parking lot to make way for a bookstore, a café, toilets, etc. All connected to the archaeological crypt, located under the forecourt.

"It will be like a Parisian passage" which will give "direct access to the banks of the Seine" below thanks to new openings, describes this architect. And will allow you to come out facing the cathedral "with a very close-up view of the building, as was the case in the Middle Ages", she emphasizes.

"Away from the hustle and bustle"

At the chevet of the cathedral, the Jean XXIII square, completely disrupted by the installation of the construction site base camp, will regain its original design (1848). And especially its gates, whereas the initial project wanted to remove them to make an open lawn, raising a controversy.

In spring 2023, an online petition collected more than 50.000 signatures, including that of TV host Stéphane Bern, to demand that this square, one of the oldest in the capital, be restored identically.

"The town hall heard us on maintaining the gates and I am pleased about that," Baptiste Gianeselli, the initiator of the petition, told AFP.

"Square Jean XXIII will remain closed, we have been generally heard," added Didier Rykner, director of the site "La tribune de l'art", another opponent of the initial project.

A new feature: the restored grilles will create an opening that does not exist
more today and "will allow people to go around the cathedral from the south", said Ariel Weil, mayor of Paris Centre.

As for the lawn of the Square de l'Ile-de-France, at the tip of the Île de la Cité, which leads to the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, it will remain closed. But its gates will be shifted to allow for more vegetation.

"We must ensure that the spirit of this place of meditation remains separate from the tumult of the city," warns Mr. Gianeselli.