The bells of Notre Dame are chiming again, but scaffolding still clinging to the cathedral's exterior is puzzling some Parisians who question whether its grand post-blaze reopening is more symbolic than substantive.

The French cathedral was ravaged by fire in 2019 during renovation works, destroying its spire and roof and threatening to collapse the whole structure.

French authorities say it remains unclear what caused the fire that ravaged Notre Dame in 2019, but have suggested an electrical fault or cigarette may have been at fault.

French President Emmanuel Macron conducted his final tour of the construction site on Friday afternoon local time, and described the rebuilding effort as "sublime".

"You have achieved what was thought impossible," Macron told workers and officials who packed Notre Dame after the French president toured the cathedral.

"The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment," he said.

Mr Macron described the rebuilding effort as a "challenge that many considered insane".

The cathedral will officially reopen next weekend, with as-yet-unnamed world leaders expected to attend.

The day after the April 2019 blaze that destroyed the spire and roof, Mr Macron pledged that "we will rebuild the cathedral to be even more beautiful, and I want it to be completed within five years".

The reality has proven more complex.

The interior will be ready to host visitors and the faithful on December 8 for the first time since the 2019 fire.

But scaffolding at the base of the newly-restored spire will remain into 2025 and for another three years on the monument's east side, says Philippe Jost, who is masterminding the reconstruction.

'A half-finished project'

The blaze and rebuilding that turned the cathedral into a no-go zone for the public left a literal hole in the heart of Paris, and many locals are longing for it to be filled by the reopening.

Some, however, had been expecting the monument to look as pristine on the outside as officials say it does once again on the inside.

Around 140 million euros ($227 million) of unspent funds remain in the reconstruction budget, an indication of the scale of work that remains to be completed.

However, previous statements reveal the cathedral has received so much funding for the project that there will be money left over for further investment in the building.

Cranes and makeshift worker facilities still feature. And while a lot of scaffolding has been removed, tons of it remains.

"It's an eyesore," resident Anne Leclerc says.

"It feels like a half-finished project."

Resident Jean-Baptiste Lefèvre questions whether the reopening was rushed prematurely to fulfil Mr Macron's five-year completion wish. His second and last term ends in 2027.

"It's politics, and he wants it to be finished while he's still president," Mr Lefèvre suggested.

"It looks like a construction zone."

Notre Dame was already a building site

Notre Dame has been a building site for years — even before the fire.

Scaffolding was already in place in 2019 for a previous restoration effort that wasn't completed because of the April 15 blaze.

That structure of melted, twisted metal then had to be cut away before rebuilding could even begin.

Some of the worst damage was to the medieval monument's roof and its dense latticework of wooden beams, so complicated that it was nicknamed "the forest".

The flames also brought down the spire, sending charred debris into the cathedral's interior.

The charred scaffolding was removed in 2020, and the organ that once thundered through the cathedral was secured the following year.

In 2023, massive French oak trusses from historic trees in the Bercé forest in the French Loire region were hoisted onto the building.

A medieval statue of the Virgin Mary and Child, known as The Virgin of Paris, returned to the cathedral earlier this year after surviving the fire five years ago.

Also earlier this year, restorers revealed the new spire, topped with a golden rooster and a cross.

Architecture experts say the pace of restoration has been remarkable, particularly given the constraints of 21st-century safety regulations and the need for historical accuracy.

Historians also urge patience, reminding critics that Notre Dame's original construction spanned nearly 200 years from 1163.

"Notre Dame's reconstruction is a sign of hope for everyone," Reverend Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, the cathedral rector, says.

Restoration delayed

Initial hopes for a full restoration by 2024 dimmed after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the loss of the project's leader slowed work.

The late General Jean-Louis Georgelin — the former reconstruction chief — tempered expectations in 2023, saying the reopening would be "partial."

He died later that year, with Mr Macron hailing him as the "greatest soldier" dedicated to restoring Notre Dame "stone by stone".

Mr Macron's office frames the restoration as a triumph for French can-do, likening it to other national milestones such as the Paris Olympics.

His tour of the monument on Friday will be his seventh since the fire.