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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.