Notre-Dame de Paris Phase 3 Exterior Restoration

Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 and the scaffolding didn’t come down. The cathedral moved into a third phase covering exterior fabric that needed work before the 2019 fire and was deferred while the roof, vaults and spire were rebuilt. Phase 3 runs from 2025 to roughly 2028 and concentrates on the chevet, the apse’s flying buttresses and the exterior of the 19th-century sacristy.

Many of the flying buttresses are being rebuilt rather than patched. That’s unusually invasive work on a structure of this significance, and it requires scaffold and lifting schemes that thread around a building now receiving millions of visitors a year.

Project Scope

The chevet and apse flying buttresses, with many buttresses rebuilt rather than repaired. The exterior of the 19th-century sacristy, which entered the works perimeter in spring 2026. Replacement of the stained glass in the south chapels was scheduled for 2026. The chevet and buttress campaign started in 2025.

The restoration is directed by the chief architects of historic monuments under the French Ministry of Culture, with Philippe Villeneuve as chief architect and Remi Fromont and Pascal Prunet as associated chief architects. The cathedral is state property. No separate Phase 3 budget has been published. The overall post-fire effort drew roughly 840 million euros in donations, and the surplus funds this continuing exterior campaign.

Why It Matters

The reopening got the coverage, but the reopening was a deadline, not a finish line. Phase 3 is work that a normal cathedral maintenance cycle would have done quietly across decades, compressed into a window while the donation money and the assembled trade crews are still in place.

There’s a practical lesson here for the owner of any large heritage asset. The fire didn’t create most of this scope. Deferred maintenance did, and the fire only made it visible and fundable.

Project Team & Details