The Christ Church Cathedral hit a significant milestone on Tuesday, completing its first phase of stabilisation in the restoration process.
And for the first time since the 2011 earthquakes, media were invited inside to take a look.
"To be inside the building finally and to be able to feel safe enough to bring people inside the building is just an amazing experience for us," said Mark Stewart, the cathedral's reinstatement chair.
And it's a very different experience from 2011.
It's also the first time the public has been allowed inside the cathedral, a huge milestone for the reinstatement project and for the city.
Some historic tiling on the floor and walls is still there from that time, but the building has obvious reinforcements in place.
Pauline Cotter told Newshub "it does catch you out with a bit of emotion, when you revisit these things that have been off limits for so long, and then you reconnect and realise what we had".
Building and Construction Minister Megan Woods said: "This is a huge day of celebration, everyone here in Canterbury loves to see these milestones of things coming back."
And the project team is working hard to finish the cathedral by 2027.
Cotter said the cathedral "was the biggest tourist attraction in Christchurch and it will be again. With only four or five years to go to get there, it's really really exciting".
An exciting project now entering its second phase.
"The next phase is basically strengthening the walls, that's about a year project to do that," Mark Stewart told Newshub.
"Once we've completed that phase, we move into foundation design and all of that, so all of this floor we are standing on will come up, we are going down about 3 metres."
Going down to build the cathedral back up.
"It is in the middle of Cathedral Square, this is the heart of our city and we are looking to get the beating heart back beating again."
Bringing Cathedral Square back to life.
