Notre Dame's grand reopening: A historic moment for Paris
After a five-year reconstruction period, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one of the most important places of worship and a key monument of France, will reopen to the public on Saturday. The reconstruction was necessary after a devastating fire struck the cathedral in 2019. The reopening ceremony will attract numerous guests, including leaders from various countries.
The festivities will begin on Saturday at 6 PM GMT. Among the several dozen invited heads of state and government will be U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. From the U.S., in addition to Trump, Jill Biden, the wife of the outgoing President Joe Biden, will attend. British Prince William will also be present, along with monarchs from Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Norway.
From Germany and Italy, Presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergio Mattarella will be present. Bulgaria, Croatia, and Greece will also be represented by their heads of state, respectively - Rumen Radev, Zoran Milanović, and Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Joining them will be the presidents of Estonia - Alar Karis, Finland - Alexander Stubb, and Lithuania - Gitanas Nausėda, as well as Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Expected are the female presidents of Georgia and Kosovo: Salome Zourabichvili and Vjosa Osmani. Prime Ministers from Armenia and Serbia - Nikol Pashinyan and Miloš Vučević, will also be present.
The grand ceremony in Paris
At the beginning of the ceremony, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, will knock with a staff on the closed doors of the cathedral. A psalm will sound as a symbolic "response" from the church, which has been silent since the fire. On the third knock and third chant, the doors will open.
A ceremony will take place inside the cathedral, which was initially planned to be held in the plaza in front of the church but was relocated due to predicted strong winds. The elements of the event include a film about the cathedral's reconstruction and a tribute to the firefighters and builders who saved the church. Afterwards, a speech of about 15 minutes will be delivered by France's President Emmanuel Macron.
The religious part - the opening service - will begin. Archbishop Ulrich will symbolically "awaken" the organ, an 18th-century instrument consisting of 8,000 pipes. The hierarch will bless the organ, followed by prayer and symbolic dialogue, in which the instrument, invoked eight times, will respond with music. These will be improvisations performed by four organists. Prayers and hymns will be heard. The final blessing and the hymn Te Deum will conclude the service.
In the evening, President Macron will host an official dinner for the leaders.
An outstanding architectural work
Notre Dame, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture. Its western façade is among the most beautiful of early Gothic cathedrals, thanks to its perfect proportions. Throughout its history, the cathedral has withstood desecration and devastation, including during the French Revolution, when it was turned into the Temple of Reason. In 1794, it was converted into a warehouse. However, a decade later, in 1804, Napoleon chose Notre Dame as the site of his coronation to break with tradition. The ceremony was immortalised in a famous painting by Jacques-Louis David.
In the 19th century, when the cathedral was again at risk of deterioration and threatened with demolition, Victor Hugo saved it with his novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1831). The ensuing popularity led to the renovation of the church. This period marked the beginning of Notre Dame's role as an emotional touchstone. It also arose from the Romantic fascination with Gothic architecture and the viewing of medieval cathedrals as expressions of national spirit. Thanks to Hugo and the renovation led by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, resulting in the familiar shape we know today, Notre Dame acquired the status of one of France's most important historical and cultural monuments.
In the 20th century, Notre Dame was a site where unity was showcased during moments of mourning and crisis. On 19 May 1940, during the Nazi offensive in France, a Mass attended by the then French government led by Paul Reynaud was held in the cathedral. Here, in the presence of General Charles de Gaulle, a thanksgiving Mass was celebrated on 26 August 1944, following the liberation of Paris from German occupation. It hosted funerals of Marshal of France and Poland Ferdinand Foch and presidents de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, and François Mitterrand. On 15 November 2015, a Mass was held to commemorate the victims of terrorist attacks that shook Paris two days earlier.
An important site of worship for Catholics, the cathedral is the heart of Paris, one of its symbols, and one of the most visited monuments in the world. It is expected that approximately 15 million people will cross its thresholds annually. The cathedral can accommodate about 40,000 people daily, meaning it will have twice as many visitors as the Palace of Versailles.
