French culture minister Rima Abdul-Malak announced this week that Notre-Dame cathedral, which is undergoing a vast, €846 million ($865 million) reconstruction after being ravaged by a massive fire in April 2019, should reopen in 2024 to coincide with the Olympic Games in Paris—timing that is sure to bring the eyes of the world to the city of lights.
“We’re all quite confident that 2024 will be the year of completing a large part of this reconstruction site and the reopening of the cathedral to worshippers and the public, although there’ll be more work to do after 2024, of course,” the culture minister, wearing a white construction helmet, told a journalist from French daily Le Figaro.