France’s Notre Dame Cathedral will open its doors for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed it in 2019. More than a thousand world leaders, dignitaries and worshippers are set to attend the reopening celebration on Saturday evening.
The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, is set to reopen its doors on Saturday for the first time since a fire in 2019 nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark.
The relatively swift restoration of the cathedral – which took nearly two centuries to build – is seen as a win for French President Emmanuel Macron who had championed an ambitious, and ultimately successful timeline. It will also serve as a welcome distraction from France’s domestic political turmoil after the country’s prime minister was ousted in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.
Nearly 1,500 world leaders, dignitaries and other guests will attend the reopening celebration led by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich. Notable attendees will include US President-elect Donald Trump, current first lady Jill Biden and Britain’s Prince William.
Meanwhile, public viewing areas along the Seine’s southern bank will be filled with 40,000 spectators, who can follow the celebrations on large screens.
The cathedral is “more than just a French monument,” says Notre Dame’s rector, Ribadeau Dumas. It is also “a magnificent symbol of unity, a sign of hope… because what seemed impossible has become possible.”
A solemn ceremony blended with cultural grandeur
The ceremony was initially planned to start from Notre Dame’s forecourt. However, due to strong winds forecast for Saturday evening in Paris, the entire event will instead be held inside the cathedral.
The evening’s events will blend solemn religious tradition with cultural grandeur, beginning with Archbishop Ulrich symbolically reopening Notre Dame’s grand wooden doors.
Tapping them three times with a staff crafted from charred wood salvaged from the cathedral’s fire-ravaged roof, he will declare the cathedral open for worship once more.
Four organists will perform an improvised interplay of melodies on an 8,000-pipe insrument – which was painstakingly restored and cleaned of toxic and lead dust after the fire – as psalms, prayers and hymns fill the cathedral’s vast interior.
Afterwards, a star-studded concert will pay tribute to its resurrection and to those who worked to restore it, offering a universal message of harmony. Pianist Lang Lang, cellist Yi-Yo Ma and soprano Pretty Yende are among the world-famous artists expected to perform.
On Sunday, Archbishop Ulrich will lead the inaugural Mass and consecrate the cathedral’s new altar, designed by contemporary artist Guillaume Bardet to replace the original which had been burned in the destructive 2019 blaze.
Nearly 170 bishops from France and abroad will attend, alongside priests from all 113 parishes of the Paris diocese.
A sideshow of politics with Trump and Zelenskyy
Embattled French President Emmanuel Macron called Notre Dame’s reopening a “jolt of hope”. The event comes amidst one of the most severe crises of his presidency, after an historic no-confidence vote ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Wednesday.
Ignoring calls from opposition forces for him to resign, Macron vowed in an address to the French nation on Thursday to remain in office until the end of his term in 2027, and promised to name a new prime minister within days.
In an additional political sideshow to the crisis, US President-elect Donald Trump will be in Paris for his first international trip since being elected in early November. When accepting the French president’s invitation, Trump wrote earlier this week that Macron had done “a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”
The two are set to hold bilateral talks ahead of the Notre Dame event, with the French president’s office saying Macron will subsequently speak with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a separate meeting.
It is currently not clear whether Trump will meet Zelenskyy, too. Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine swiftly but has not specified how, raising concerns in Kyiv about what terms may be laid out for any future negotiations.
In an attempt to build trust with the incoming administration, Zelenskyy’s top aide Andriy Yermak met key members of Trump’s team on a two-day trip earlier this week.
Zelenskyy and Trump did speak in late September in the former president’s New York base, Trump Tower. Trump, who has been vocally critical of US funding and military support to Ukraine in his campaign trail, said he learned a lot from the meeting.
Last weekend, Trump announced that he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
