PARIS: French Presi­dent Emmanuel Macron inspected the gleaming restored interior of Notre Dame cathedral on Friday, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “natio­nal wound” caused by a 2019 fire that ravaged the mediaeval landmark. Eight days ahead of the Dec 7 reopening of the cathedral, Macron conducted an inspection, broadcast live on television, which provided the first official insight into how the 850-year-old edifice now looks inside. “You have achieved what was thought impossible,” Macron told workers and officials who packed Notre Dame after the French president toured the cathedral. “The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment,” he said, adding the cathedral’s reopening will be a “shock of hope”. “This is an immense source of pride for the entire nation,” Macron said, expressing hope that the spirit of fraternity would endure. Notre Dame will welcome visitors and worshippers again over the Dec 7-8 weekend, after a sometimes challenging restoration to return the imposing Paris cathedral to its former glory after it was badly damaged by fire on April 19, 2019. World leaders are expected to attend, but the guest list has yet to be revealed. The French president is hoping the reopening of Notre Dame will be a major feather in his cap amid the current political deadlock following early parliamentary elections this summer. “We were told many times at the beginning that it wouldn’t be possible, that it was crazy, that it was arbitrary, that we were going to do it wrong,” Macron said. “But in the end,” he added, “you did it.” Macron toured the key areas of the cathedral, including the nave, choir and chapel, and spoke to experts. “Sublime,” said a visibly pleased Macron, who was accompanied by Paris’s archbishop Lau­rent Ulrich, the culture minister, the mayor of Paris and other officials. “It is much more welcoming,” he added, praising Notre Dame’s pale-coloured stones and saying everyone involved in the reconstruction should “be proud”. After the devastating fire Macron set the ambitious goal to rebuild Notre Dame within five years and make it “even more beautiful” than before, a target that the French authorities say has been met. The “building site of the century” was a “challenge that many considered insane”, Macron said.