Thomas Adamson

The day after the inferno struck Notre Dame on April 15, 2019, Philippe Villeneuve walked despondently into the remains of his cathedral. Smoke choked the spring air, the spire lay in rubble, and charred beams littered the nave. “We had lost the framework, the roof, the spire, and three sections of the vault,” Villeneuve, its chief architect since 2013, said.

The Olympic bell, a gift from the Paris 2024 organizing committee, will be installed alongside two smaller bells, named Chiara and Carlos, above the altar where they will be rung during Mass, officials said.

Among their bold performances was a scene that seemed to evoke Leonardo da Vinci’s "The Last Supper," featuring the drag queens and other performers in a configuration reminiscent of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, afterward drew attention away from "The Last Supper" references, saying that hadn't been his intention.

Two years after a fire tore through Paris' most famous cathedral and shocked the world, French President Emmanuel Macron on April 15 visited the building site that Notre Dame has become to show that French heritage has not been forgotten despite the pandemic.

The April 15 fire at Notre Dame cathedral has stopped the Paris cathedral from celebrating Midnight Mass this year, for the first time in over two centuries.