President Vladimir Putin has called for compromise after an outcry over plans to build a cathedral in a park in Russia's fourth-largest city. Locals have protested, saying the building would take away rare green space.

Authorities suspect that faulty wiring or a burning cigarette may have caused the devastating blaze, but they cannot say with certainty. Still, they are confident that the fire was not intentionally lit.

Paris police have closed off streets near the Notre Dame cathedral as part of a lead decontamination effort. Several residents and activists had criticized authorities for underestimating the effects of lead pollution.

Eight months after the fire, a giant crane is watching over Notre-Dame waiting to dismantle the scaffolding that threatens it. The operation, which starts at the beginning of February, aims to dismantle the 10,000 metal tubes that the fire of 15 April welded together.

Notre-Dame-des-Landes: French environmental activists still dreaming of freedom

On April 15, 2019, the world watched in horror as France's most cherished cathedral went up in flames. Writer and journalist Agnès Poirier witnessed the scene from her window on Paris's Left Bank, transfixed as 850 years of architectural, cultural and social history hung in the balance. Poirier has revisited that moment in her book "Notre-Dame: The Soul of France", as well as shedding light on some pivotal moments in the building’s history.

Greenpeace unfurls a large banner on a crane overlooking Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris demanding the French government takes "action" on the issue of climate change.

A fire broke out in the interior portion of the Nantes Cathedral, where 100 firefighters where deployed to control the blaze. The cathedral's large pipe organ was "completely destroyed."

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of targeting a historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh. Two Russian journalists were injured in the shellings. Azerbaijan rejected the allegations, saying it did not target religious sites.

Washington National Cathedral hosts an exhibition featuring thousands of origami doves as a symbol of hope for 2021. The cathedral is currently closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the art installation, entitled "Les Colombes" ("The Doves" in French), will run until May 2021 despite the Covid-19 closure. "It's a symbol we definitely need right now, a symbol of peace and hope and resilience," says German artist Michael Pendry. His paper doves have appeared in several cathedrals across the world over the past six years.

On the evening of April 15 2019, France and the world watched transfixed in horror as flames ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, fearful that the heritage landmark could be lost to humanity forever. While the spire collapsed and much of the roof was destroyed, the efforts of firefighters ensured the great mediaeval edifice survived the night. Yet the road to restoration has been long and arduous and it is only expected to return to its former glory in April 2024, five years after the fire.

French President Emmanuel Macron has set a deadline of 2024 to reopen Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral to worshippers and visitors. FRANCE 24's Revisited show is following the progress of this ambitious project and brings you a fresh update, three years after the devastating fire that badly damaged the world-famous cathedral. Our reporter Mélina Huet met those who are involved in the restoration work, both inside the mediaeval edifice and elsewhere in France. They now find themselves in a race against time.