In this premiere series, Lucy Worsley receives unique access to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris at a crucial juncture in the reconstruction three years after the horrific fire.
The effort to reconstruct and preserve the monument is intensifying in an effort to fulfil the ambitious target date of 2024 for its public reopening.
Lucy encounters researchers, historians, and artisans who are restoring the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece to its original splendour. Specialists are currently decontaminating Notre-Dame after the fire covered the structure in tonnes of poisonous lead dust.
Lucy and the stained-glass historians have special access to the magnificent rose windows, which enables them to solve the puzzles of these mysterious 13th-century works of art.
The group must come up with a brilliant plan to save the stonework because an unanticipated fire legacy threatens to destroy the remaining vaulting.
And so begins the tremendous work of finding and harvesting two thousand perfect oaks to reconstruct the magnificent roof and spire of Notre-Dame, the most intricate mediaeval timber construction in the world.
