The actions to secure the cathedral began the day after the fire. It was essential to immediately establish an inventory of the damage and set to work to save the cathedral.
Impeccable mobilization over more than two years ensured the success of complex operations. The many dangers threatening the monument were eliminated one by one.
In the end, the cathedral had been saved by summer 2021 and was ready to accommodate restoration works complete safety.
Once the fire had been extinguished, the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs (DRAC), architects from the department of historic monuments and companies took over from the firefighters to immediately ensure the emergency operations necessary to make the edifice and its surroundings safe, thus commencing the vast project of securing the cathedral.
Beginning on the night of the fire and continuing over the following days, 1,300 artworks were evacuated from the cathedral and stored in a safe place.
Certainly, the interior of the cathedral was perfectly recognizable in the days following the fire. But it presented an apocalyptic vision, the floor littered with the mass of debris from the spire, the vault, the framework and the roofs.
The twenty-eight arches supporting the flying buttresses are emblematic of the securing of the cathedral, giving visible shape to the success of an exceptional challenge.
Erected before the fire, the scaffolding of the spire withstood its collapse. The removal of the scaffolding, a crucial phase in securing the structure, was the focus of all the know-how and energy of the skilled workers for many months.
Waterlogged, littered with rubble after the fire and partly collapsed, it was absolutely imperative to secure the vaults of Notre Dame before the work of restoring them could begin.
The great organ is the voice of Notre Dame. Preserved from flames and water by the massive Western end of the cathedral (the West part of the cathedral including the towers in the facade), it was mired in lead dust, making it essential to clean and restore the organ. Its 8,000 pipes thus had to be dismantled.
The installation of several hundred tons of scaffolding inside Notre Dame in order to consolidate the monument and make it accessible, radically transformed its face.
Securing the transept crossing and protecting it from water signaled the end of the securing work on the cathedral.
While work securing the monument continued apace, two chapels in the middle of the cathedral were given very special treatment: they recovered their splendor before all the others.
