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Posted: 2020-04-28 09:21:43

Workers have begun reconfiguring the construction site at the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral to comply with strict coronavirus restrictions after the outbreak halted operations last month.

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, the rector of the cathedral, said work began on Monday to make the site compliant with social distancing rules.

Crews had been unable to work on the site since tight control measures were introduced in mid-March.

That included re-arranging showers and cloakrooms to allow more distance between workers and installing a place for workers to eat because restaurants in France are currently closed.

Monsignor Chauvet said most workers would stay in nearby vacant hotels so they would not have to rely on public transport.

A long-beaked stone bird sits in the foreground of a shot of a white tarp covering the damaged roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral
Fire tore through the cathedral's roof and destroyed its spire in April last year.(AP: Vivienne Walt)

"It's true that we have lost a month and a half," Monsignor Chauvet said.

He said the first task, once work gets fully underway, was to remove the tangle of metal scaffolding that melted in the fire.

The 250 tons of scaffolding had been installed for a prior renovation project and the unstable metal structure now endangers re-building.

"It's a difficult job. It requires the climbers to be calm," Monsignor Chauvet said.

"We can't have COVID there to cause them stress."

The clean-up work itself is scheduled to gradually resume next week.

The burning spire of a gothic cathedral glows orange as smoke billows from it.
It has now been more than a year since the blaze.(Reuters: Benoit Tessier)

Fire engulfed the 850-year-old building on the banks of the River Seine on April 15 last year.

The fire destroyed the cathedral's spire and roof and, according to officials, came within 30 minutes of razing the building to the ground.

French President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild within five years but work so far has been slow.

The coronavirus outbreak is the latest in a string of setbacks for the repair works, plagued by toxic lead released by the fire, winter storms and searing heatwaves.

A view of the inside of Notre Dame Cathedral, with netting covering the pews and missing stained glass from the windows.
A photo from March 9 gives an indication of work still needed to be done to restore the Paris landmark.(AP: Vivienne Walt)

But Monsignor Chauvet said the project was on track to meet Macron's five-year deadline.

"That doesn't mean that all of the restoration will be completed, but it means we will be able to enter again into the cathedral," he said.

Despite the delay, the general in charge of the reconstruction said he still wants to stick to ambitious plans to hand the cathedral back to the Catholic Church in 2024, when Paris is set to host the Olympics.

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