Volkswacht Bodensee - Notre-Dame gets back St Thomas statue adorning spire base

The statue, three metres (10 feet) tall and weighing 100 kilograms (220 pounds), was unaffected by the blaze, having been removed from the cathedral just days before for routine restoration, along with the other 15.

"It's almost a miracle," said Marie-Helene Didier, in charge of historic buildings in the Paris region.

"It's a very powerful symbol to see all the statues up there," she told AFP.

After receiving a blessing from the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, it was heaved on the spire's base by crane.

The statue, currently hidden behind by scaffolding around the spire, will be fully visible by the end of August.

Notre-Dame nearly burned down in 2019, but was fully renovated inside and fitted with a new roof and spire during a frenzied five-year refit.

It held its first mass since the blaze in December, and reopened to the public shortly after.

The 16 statues, representing the 12 apostles as well the four evangelists in the Catholic tradition, were designed in 1857 by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the architect of the spire, and sculpted by Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume.

Geoffroy-Dechaume gave the statue of Saint Thomas, patron saint of architects, the features of Viollet-le-Duc.

The exact cause of the 2019 blaze has never been identified despite a forensic investigation, which pointed to a likely accident such as an electrical fault.

C.Stoecklin--VB