President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on Saturday to “one of the greatest soldiers, one of the greatest servants” France has ever had and who “stone by stone was restoring the wounded beauty” of the cathedral.
Before being recalled to oversee reconstruction, Georgelin had been chief of staff for the French forces, overseeing operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and elsewhere.
Citing the regional prosecutor, the local press reported that Georgelin died while hiking in the Pyrenees, probably in an accident. The Ariege region rescue service said a body was found near the village of Bordes-Uchentein on Friday.
Macron said in a statement that Georgelin died in the mountains, reflecting “a life always oriented towards the peaks.” The text offered no further details.
Born on August 30, 1948, Georgelin attended the prestigious Saint-Cyr Military High School before serving in infantry regiments, paratroopers and military intelligence. He studied at the US military academy at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and from there became military adviser to President Jacques Chirac, and then chief of the French General Staff in 2006-2010.
Shortly after the Norte Dame Cathedral fire in 2019, Macron appointed Georgelin to lead the rebuilding efforts. Numerous craftsmen from all over France are using medieval materials and methods to rebuild the church.
“It is a way of being faithful to (the work) of all the people who built all the extraordinary monuments of France,” Georgelin said some time ago, in an interview with The Associated Press.
Macron lamented that “General Georgelin will never see the reopening of Notre Dame with his own eyes,” but added that when it reopens on December 8, 2024, “he will be present with us.”
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
