The 2019 Fire and the Rescue of the Relics

On the evening of 15 April 2019 fire broke out beneath the cathedral's roof, most likely from an electrical fault or a discarded cigarette during restoration work. Within hours the nineteenth-century spire and the medieval oak roof, the timbers nicknamed "the forest", had collapsed, though the stone vaults, the twin towers and the great rose windows survived.

As the fire spread, a chaplain of the Paris fire brigade, Father Jean-Marc Fournier, and a chain of firefighters entered the burning building to bring out the Crown of Thorns and the tunic of Saint Louis, which were carried to safety and later stored at the Louvre. A five-year, state-led restoration followed, replacing the roof and spire in oak to the original design and cleaning the fire-stained interior. Notre-Dame reopened for worship on 7 December 2024 in the presence of heads of state, and the Crown of Thorns was returned to the cathedral within days and installed in the axial chapel. The fire and recovery renewed worldwide attention on both the building and the relic it guards.