The part was removed following a controlled explosion at 1758 hours. After the detonation, smoke appeared as part of the tarp which covered the tip of the spire caught fire. The removal began several minutes later after drones made sure the explosion had made a regular cut so that the part of the spire could be lowered in one piece.
The part was removed by a 500-tonne crane as another one enveloped the whole spire and lowered it. Before that, in a second attempt, mountain climbers tethered the top of the spire to the crane.
The chief designer of the cathedral's reconstruction, Dalibor Foretic, said the lowering would take 20 minutes until the removed part of the spire was vertically secured on the ground, for which a bed was made.
Monsignor Ivan Hren announced on April 1 that the top of the damaged north spire would be removed to prevent it from collapsing.
He said church officials, after seeing footage of the damage, they brought in structural engineers and said that "far less damage would be caused if the part of the north spire was removed than if it fell."