He recalls that on the night of April 15, 2019, he had to leave his home and go to the core of the tragedy to see it with his own eyes: the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was burning. "I felt that sorrow, seeing the cathedral destroyed, as a Catholic, as a Parisian, and as a heritage enthusiast." That day, he did not yet know that he would be part of the most important engineering project carried out in Paris in this century: the reconstruction of the temple, as it was originally built in the Middle Ages.
Five years have passed, and the cathedral has just reopened to the public this weekend, now renovated, and Phillipe Jost (Paris, 1960) has been the one leading the works. He is the director of the public company created in 2020 to lead this titanic project: Rebuild Notre Dame. Originally, the organization was led by General Jean-Louis Georgelin, but he died in an accident in the Pyrenees before seeing the work completed, and Jost, his right-hand man, took over. The appointment of a general to head this company was controversial at the time and caused discomfort in the cultural world.
Jost, however, continued the military's legacy and successfully completed his work. He is a high-ranking French official, trained as an engineer, who studied at the prestigious Polytechnic School and also at the Louvre School. Discreet, he has spent most of his career in the Ministry of Defense.
He worked in the general armament directorate and in recent years has also been involved in teaching, giving math classes. The day after the fire, he wrote to General Georgelin. "If I can be of help, I will assist you in whatever you need," he said. Georgelin replied the next day. Jost was on vacation and showed up at the general's office the following week: "I had no idea what was going to happen."
What happened, as he explained last week during a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral before its reopening, is something that "is not forgotten in life", five years working on what will probably be the most important project of his career. Over 2,000 people have worked during this time to rebuild the Parisian temple, with him at the helm.
Jost has also been the spokesperson throughout this period, detailing the stages of the work. By his side in this adventure has been the chief architect of the Ministry of Culture, Philippe Villeneuve. One of the challenges, as he has reiterated in recent days, has been to meet the deadlines in order to open on time, as promised by French President Emmanuel Macron, to rebuild the cathedral in five years.
Notre Dame was inaugurated last weekend and has been open to the public since Monday. As Jost explains: "The cathedral has never looked so beautiful before." The reconstruction works have been an opportunity for the temple to "regain all its beauty and luminosity, as it had in the Middle Ages."
Phillipe Jost draws lessons even from the fire that consumed it and believes that this has helped French citizens to have more interest in religious heritage today: "This has reminded us that heritage is fragile and that resources and investment are needed to maintain it."