. >> reporter: if philippe jost is now commander in chief of the restoration, philippe villeneuve remains its artistic director. chief architect of the cathedral since well before the fire. we saw him in 2023 supervising every detail and every artisan. >> you also told us that rebuilding notre dame was in a way rebuilding yourself after the fire. do you feel rebuilt now? "yes," villeneuve told us. "today i can watch images of the fire, see the spire falling into the flames. that's something i couldn't watch before." last year villeneuve supervised the construction of a new wooden spire and its lead covering and designed a new rooster, a symbol of the french people, for its very peak. it was put in place last december. "when i saw the spire and the lead roof appear," villeneuve said, "when we put the rooster and the cross in place, i felt that a wound had been closed." >> since more than eight centuries this cathedral was here. it resisted to two world wars, so many battles and campaigns. the decision to rebuild notre dame, it was about our capacity to save, restore, sometimes reinvent wha

"it's true," philippe villeneuve told us, that notre dame was a formidable school for all the differentnds of jobs were boosted by the restoration. >> i visited the site a few times, and each time what struck me the most was the commitment and the joy and the responsibility of the companions that i met. >> anne dias griffin was born in france and educated in the u.s., where she runs an investment firm. she has helped mobilize financial support in america to revitalize notre dame. >> why do you think this symbol of paris and of france inspires such strong feelings not just here, but in the u.s. and around the world? >> notre dame symbolizes something universal. and that's something to be cherished. >> anne's contribution to the restoration effort was one of the largest from anyone in the u.s. >> the support from americans was just tremendous. there were over 45,000 donors who contributed funds to the cathedral for a sum of over $57 million. so we should be incredibly proud of that. >> every penny of that has been needed. the total cost of restoring notre dame is nearing a billion dollars

. >> reporter: chief architect philippe villeneuve says the restoration shined a new light on traditionaland restoration. "what is great about notre dame is it's like a school," he says, "where we pass skills from generation to generation." traditional carpenter hank silver worked on the timber roof of the cathedral. >> it's maybe a bit of maybe a controversial point to say, but in many ways this fire has been a great gift not just to me personally but young people who really otherwise would never know that they could have a career as a traditional carpenter, stone cutter, mason. these trades are in the public eye again. >> and what would you say to these young people who say i want to be i acarpenter and i like how you work? >> there's -- i think there's nothing better you can do with your life. workshop young apprentices from around france are learning traditional methods of stone masonry, carpentry and roofing. apprentice stone mason hugo larrivont says he feels a duty to protect france's architectural heritage and that's why he's learning traditional methods here. >> i have the dacont