Scaffolder Azzedine Hedna, "the sun of Notre-Dame", has left us

Azzedine left a few weeks before the reopening of the cathedral, which has been undergoing rehabilitation for more than five years after being ravaged by a fire on April 15, 2019. He who liked to repeat to his colleagues that he would retire after the delivery of the Notre-Dame site. "It was the climax of his career, his last site," confides Ludovic Lebeau, deputy general manager of the public institution in charge of the restoration of the cathedral, to the newspaper Le Parisien. "He was always telling me: Notre Dame is the pride of my life. He was so happy to be there," adds Marie Parant, restorer of the cathedral’s mural paintings.

The sexagenarian "friend with everyone" was "struck down on the night of Friday to Saturday (from November 8 to 9) at his home by a serious health accident, he could not be saved," details Philippe Jost, president of the public institution in a message on social networks. Like his deputy who paid tribute to this scaffolder’s "immense attachment to France," the official retains the memory of a man who "truly embodied the spirit of this magnificent human adventure of the restoration of the cathedral, a spirit of commitment, unity, solidarity, proximity and pride."

"He was supposed to retire at the end of January. Notre-Dame was for him the crowning of a lifetime of work that began at the age of 14," says Hakim, Azzedine’s brother, an electrician on the Notre-Dame site. Didier Cuiset, the boss of the company Europe Échafaudage which employed Azzedine, is full of praise: "He was my Azzedine, he was more than an employee, he was like a brother. The joyful guy on the site who breathed happiness." "Always a kind word for everyone, he was our sun of Notre-Dame," confirms a colleague who nicknamed him "uncle" in an Instagram post.

The death of the scaffolder has caused emotion among the workers on the site. "Today, the whole Notre-Dame family is in mourning, losing one of its own. Notre-Dame rebuilt owes him a lot," says archaeologist Dorothée Chaoui-Derieux, still in shock. Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, also reacted to the sad news, hailing this "artisan of the renewal of Notre-Dame." "We will not forget that it is thanks to men like him that Notre-Dame will regain its splendor," she wrote on Sunday on X. The Moroccan had taken a photo with her a few months ago, during her visit to the site.

Michel Izard, a TF1 reporter, describes an "enthusiastic, determined, benevolent" man who always welcomed him "with a big smile." "We feel the gravity of the moment for him. Under his feet, there is the vertigo of the path traveled since his childhood in the Moroccan countryside that he loved so much to the top of Notre-Dame de Paris that he venerated," he testifies in a message on Facebook. A "private tribute" will be paid to Azzedine this Wednesday afternoon at the construction site’s living base to honor his memory, before his burial on Thursday in Morocco. Azzedine leaves behind two children and two granddaughters.