Notre-Dame Cathedral formally reopened this weekend in Paris. Foreign dignitaries attended the reopening of the famed cathedral, following its devastating fire in 2019. Those in attendance included France President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, as well as President-elect Donald Trump, who sat next to Jill Biden. Togo President Faure Gnassingb, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Prince William. Politicians and celebrities took photos outside the building before it reopened the evening of December 7, and then Archbishop Ulrich symbolically knocked on the front door using a bespoke crosier carved from fire-scorched beams sourced from the original structure.Notre-Dames nave the evening of December 7 (Francesco Ammendola/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)Archbishop Ulrich subsequently shepherded his flock into their seats so the show could officially begin. Afterward, the world was afforded a view of Notre-Dames nave that hadt been seen in several centuries. All of the seats inside the Cathedral werent fixed to the ground, echoing the way the space was arranged after its completion in 1163 AD. It took roughly 2,000 craftspeople to restore the landmark, and many more contributed, including Philippe Villeneuve, Rmi Fromont, and Pascal Prunetarchitects who oversaw Notre-Dames restoration. The Global MomentCertainly, the December 7 opening was a confluence where multiple streams conjoined. Political foes and friends gathered to celebrate years of hard word by the renovation team who got the job done on time, and within budget. The renovation team consisted of well known French architects, but also carpenters from New York and Boston.On the heels of the official reopening, on November 21, Diana Darke published a new bookIslamesque: The Forgotten Craftsmen Who Built Europes Medieval Monumentswhich told the story of how Arab Muslims contributed to Notre-Dames completion, and European Medieval Christian architecture more broadly. Darkes book spoke to the multihyphenate character and composition of the team who rebuilt Notre-Dame in 2024. Atelier de la Grande Oye, a construction firm founded by Paul Zahnd, a French Muslim, was responsible for building the new wooden frames to support Notre-Dames new roof, for instance.What an irony that across Europe, Darke wrote in Middle East Eye, there are increasingly loud calls from far-right parties to rid their country of immigrants, especially Muslims, in order to save the purity of their own race and culture, evidently unaware that their very civilisation was built on the superior skill of immigrants.Giving KudosFrench architects Philippe Villeneuve, Rmi Fromont, and Pascal Prunet led the project team. Rebtir Notre-Dame de Paris Public Authority awarded the tenders to companies interested in participating in Notre-Dames construction.All in all, more than 200 architecture, engineering, and construction firms participated in Notre-Dames refurbishment, like Paul Zahnd. Bureau Bas Smets, a Belgian landscape architecture firm, is devising a planfor greening the site, its work will concentrate on sustainability and resiliency.Artist Flavie Vincent-Petit was hired by Archbishop Ulrich to replace Notre-Dames original stained glass windows with new ones. (Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo)Mapei, together with Lefvre and CCR, was put in charge of restoring the central nave, namely its choir, vaulted ceilings, and two of the transepts wings. Asselina French windows, doors, and wood paneling distributorworked with multiple entities to rebuild the spire. That firm partnered with U.S. carpenters Jackson Dubois of New York and Boston-based Michael Burrey on the spires reconstruction. Carpenters Without Borders and Goosewing Timberworks, a Vermont company, also partook. In the weeks following the fire, there was a design competition to rebuild the conical structure. In the end, the oak spire was replaced with an identical replica of what once stood. Limestone walls and the decorative vaulting inside the church were destroyed by the flames. While the French quarries used centuries ago to complete the cathedral are no longer active, new stone was again sourced locally, this time in the region of Oise in northern France. Salvageable limestone surfaces covered in ash and grime from the collapsed roof were painstakingly cleaned and restored to look new too. Wood latticework, supporting the newly rebuilt roof, used oak from 1,500 trees, each around 150 years old.Architect Jean-Marie Duthilleul was tapped to rethink Notre-Dames liturgical layout. Stphane Bern, a high-profile heritage advocate, worked closely with General Georgelin on the high-profile project. Artist Flavie Vincent-Petit was hired by Archbishop Ulrich to replace Notre-Dames original stained glass windows with new ones even though the originals werent damaged in the 2019 fire, a decision that was met with stiff pushback at first.All of these architects, artisans, and politicians followed in the footsteps of past builders who brought Notre-Dame to life. In the Middle Ages, Notre-Dame was conceived by Jean de Chelles, Pierre de Montreuil, and Pierre de Chelles. Then, centuries later, Notre-Dame had a massive overhaul between 1844 and 1864 by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugne-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.