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		</div><p>Notre Dame is still so fragile that there is a “50% chance” the Paris landmark might not be entirely saved because scaffolding installed before this year’s devastating fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument, its rector has said.</p>
<p>Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said restoration work is not likely to begin until 2021 – and described his “heartache” at not being able to celebrate Christmas services inside the cathedral this year, for the first time since the French Revolution.</p>
<p><em>“Today it is not out of danger,”</em> he told the Associated Press after Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in a nearby church. <em>“It will be out of danger when we take out the remaining scaffolding.”</em></p>
<p><em>“Today we can say that there is maybe a 50% chance that it will be saved. There is also 50% chance of scaffolding falling on to the three vaults, so as you can see the building is still very fragile,”</em> he said.</p>
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<div class="unruly_ia_furniture">The 12th-century cathedral was under renovation at the time of the accidental April fire, which destroyed its roof and collapsed its spire.</div>
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<p>One of the toughest parts of the clean-up effort is cutting down the 50,000 tubes of old scaffolding that crisscrossed the back of Notre Dame.</p>
<p><em>“We need to remove completely the scaffolding in order to make the building safe so in 2021 we will probably start the restoration of the cathedral,”</em> Mr Chauvet said.</p>
<p><em>“Once the scaffolding is removed, we need to assess the state of the cathedral, the quantity of stones to be removed and replaced.”</em></p>
<p>He estimated that it would take another three years after that to make it safe enough for people to re-enter the cathedral, but that the full restoration will take longer.</p>
<p>French President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants it rebuilt by 2024, when Paris hosts the Olympic Games, but experts have questioned whether that timeframe is realistic.</p>
<p>Unable to celebrate Christmas in Notre Dame this year, its congregation, clergy and choir decamped to the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church across from the Louvre museum instead.</p>
<p>Parishioners at Christmas Eve Mass shared sorrow about the fire, but also a feeling of solidarity.</p>
<p><em>“I remember my mother told me that she was watching TV, and that there was a fire at Notre Dame. I told her ‘It’s not possible’, and I took my bike, and when I arrived I was crying,”</em> said Jean-Luc Bodam, a Parisian engineer who used to cross town to attend services at the cathedral.</p>
<p><em>“We are French, we are going to try to rebuild Notre Dame as it was before, because it is a symbol,”</em> he added.</p>
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