150 trees will be planted on the cathedral square by 2028

Notre-Dame de Paris is due to reopen its doors on December 8, but its layout still has a few surprises in store. Tuesday October 15, the Paris town hall and the public establishment for the reconstruction of the cathedral announced a project to revegetate the square and the surrounding area, during a press conference. The City must begin work in the fall of 2025 to create a large green space of 1,800 m2 and a covered promenade, by 2028.

This redevelopment project is the result of consultation between local residents, site stakeholders, traders and visitors. The objective? Adapt the monument, among the most emblematic in the country, to climate change. “ This is the first question that we asked ourselves, so that this heritage legacy that we have received can be fully integrated into a 21st century city. », indicated Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.

To do this, the City is preparing to submit planning and building permits on the 4.7 hectares surrounding the cathedral. This vast space includes the square and the land located behind the building, including Square Jean-XXIII. With a budget of 50 million euros, the project was entrusted to the Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets.

A walk under the square

The latter designed the layout of the square “like a clearing”. In fact, 150 trees will be planted on either side of the space which welcomes 12 to 15 million visitors each year, grouped in long queues. This wall of trees will cool the surroundings of Notre-Dame and keep tourists in the shade during the summer, as periods of very high heat will increase. A thin layer of water measuring five millimeters will also instantly refresh the air through evaporation. The ground of the square will remain mineral with limestone slabs.

But those responsible for the project will also not fail to tackle the underground areas of the square. Before the fire, they took the form of a parking lot, built in the 1970s and fallen into neglect. These underground passages will become a reception space, in the form of a “large covered promenade” of 3,000 m2, as described by Susanne Elisson, of the GRAU agency in charge of the development. This walk will be connected to the archaeological crypt, located under the square and open to the Seine. It will house a bookstore, a café and even toilets.

The end of a controversy

Among the controversial points of the redevelopment, the Ile-de-France and Jean XXIII squares will retain their fence. The project was first to open up these spaces and create a large park, accessible day and night. But this idea was not to everyone’s taste and a petition had collected more than 45,000 signatures, in 2023, to ask for the “simple restoration of the square”. The petitioners, supported by host Stéphane Bern, believed that decompartmentalization would deprive the squares of their tranquility. It would also prevent contemplation at the Memorial of the Martyrs of the Deportation, located at the end of the Quai de l’Archêvêché.

Latest novelty of the project: the gates of Square Jean-XXIII will be restored with an opening. It will allow you to go around the cathedral from the south, to make this new walk even more attractive.