Notre Dame Cathedral got its rooster back Saturday in a pivotal moment for the Paris landmark's restoration. The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire, the AP reports. It symbolizes resilience amid destruction after the devastating April 2019 fire—as restoration officials also revealed an anti-fire misting system is being installed under the cathedral's roof. Chief architect Philippe Villeneuve, who designed this new rooster, stated that the original rooster's survival signified a ray of light in the catastrophe.
"That there was hope, that not everything was lost. The beauty of the (old) battered rooster ... expressed the cry of the cathedral suffering in flames," Villeneuve said. He described the new work of art, approximately a half-meter long and gleaming in the December sun behind Notre Dame Cathedral, as his phoenix. Villeneuve elaborated on the new rooster's significance, saying: "Since (the fire) we have worked on this rooster (the) successor, which sees the flame carried to the top of the cathedral as it was before, more than 96 meters from the ground. ... It is a fire of resurrection."
Before ascending to its perch, the rooster, a French emblem of vigilance and Christ's resurrection, was blessed by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich in a square behind the monument. The rooster—or "coq" in French—is a emotive national emblem for the French because of the word's semantics, the Latin gallus meaning Gaul and gallus simultaneously meaning rooster. Ulrich placed sacred relics in a hole inside the rooster's breast, including fragments of Christ's Crown of Thorns and remains of St. Denis and St. Genevieve, infusing the sculpture with religious importance. A sealed tube was also placed in the sculpture containing a list the names of nearly 2,000 individuals who contributed to the cathedral's reconstruction.
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Notre Dame's new restoration chief, Philippe Jost, also detailed pioneering measures taken to safeguard the iconic cathedral against future fires. "We have deployed a range of fire protection devices, some of which are very innovative in a cathedral, including a misting system in the attics, where the oak frame and in the spire are located," Jost said, per the AP. President Emmanuel Macron, who last week visited the site to mark a one-year countdown to its re-opening, announced that the original rooster will be displayed in a new museum at the Hôtel-Dieu.
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