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Exhibit opens this week to give visitors a peek inside the rebuilding of Notre Dame

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

A new exhibit is open this week to give visitors a peek inside the rebuilding of Notre Dame. The Parisian landmark has been closed since fire gutted much of the cathedral in 2019.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Marie Segura with the travel agency My Private Paris is a guide who's already looking forward to a reopening, now set for December of next year.

MARIE SEGURA: When you walk, you see the towers from far. So first of all, it's very central. It's the heart of Paris and the heart of Parisians.

FADEL: Segura used to visit the cathedral daily, sometimes even twice a day. And she says it's still painful to talk about the fire.

SEGURA: When the fire happened, everyone was moved for various reasons. In my imagination, I was losing it. I was losing this beautiful monument.

PFEIFFER: She expects it to be emotional when full access is finally restored.

SEGURA: I'm not sure I will get tourists in with me for the first time. I think I need to go by myself first and have a little reconnection with it. And then I'm going to be so happy to show it to everyone coming in Paris, of course.

FADEL: Donations for the restoration of the Cathedral of Notre Dame are close to reaching $1 billion.

(SOUNDBITE OF MAKZO, LEAVV'S "VIATECTURE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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