As a special privilege, Emmanuel Macron was given a preview of the cathedral ahead of its reopening on Friday, November 29, and shared this moment with over a thousand lucky visitors. According to the Élysée, they were the people "most involved," a term used to describe both the workers and restorers who brought the cathedral back to life, as well as the most generous donors who financed the project.
Some €843 million was raised in the direct aftermath of the 15 April 2019 fire, with 340,000 people contributing to this extraordinary fundraising effort – an unprecedented feat! The roll call of Notre-Dame's donors is nothing short of breathtaking: luxury tycoons, business leaders, heirs and self-made men, a few celebrities and many anonymous ones, children who emptied their piggy banks and retirees who dipped into their pensions, believers and atheists, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims. Among these guardian angels, some are keen to ensure their contributions do not go unnoticed.
"The Fondation Notre-Dame is the leading financer of the cathedral's restoration," announced the fundraising body linked to the Paris diocese in a statement. "We have the largest number of donors for Notre-Dame, 236,000 to be exact," said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of the Fondation du Patrimoine. "Don't forget the Americans, who have given so much!" said Jean-Hugues Monier, from New York, a former McKinsey strategy consultant who has been volunteering his efforts to support fundraising in the United States.
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