Notre Dame to hold first public service after five-year restoration

Agence France-Presse·8 December 2024, 3:32 pm·1 min read

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Notre Dame to hold first public service after five-year restoration — This photograph shows The Crown of Thorns designed by French artist Sylvain Dubuisson during a ceremony to mark the re-opening of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral, in central Paris, on December 7, 2024. Around 50 heads of state and government are expected in the French capital to attend the ceremony marking the rebuilding of the Gothic masterpiece five years after the 2019 fire which ravaged the world heritage landmark and toppled its spire. Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were part of the five-year restoration project at a cost of hundreds of millions of euros. Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP

The newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral is set to hold its first public service on Sunday following a historic reopening ceremony that celebrated firefighters, builders, and artists for their efforts in saving the 12th-century masterpiece.

The beloved Paris monument nearly burned down in 2019 but has since been renovated, with a new roof and spire added during a frenzied reconstruction effort.

During the reopening service on Saturday, attended by world leaders including incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed the "gratitude of the French nation" for the work.

"We have rediscovered what great nations can do -- achieve the impossible," Macron said.

One of the most moving moments occurred when firefighters in their protective gear walked through the congregation to thunderous applause, as the word "Merci" ("Thank you") was projected onto the intricate facade and famous bell towers of the Gothic masterpiece.

The architectural wonder had been at risk of collapse during the April 2019 blaze and was saved only by the heroic intervention of firefighters pumping water from the nearby River Seine.

On Sunday morning, the first mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) with hundreds of bishops and priests from Paris and around France in attendance.

Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will lead prayers and consecrate the new altar, which replaces the one destroyed in the 2019 fire.

A second mass in the evening, at 6:30 p.m., will be open to the public, with around 2,500 people who secured free tickets this week expected to attend.

The cathedral will fully reopen to visitors on December 16 via an online reservation system.

'Beautiful'

Saturday's service began with Archbishop Ulrich, dressed in brightly colored new vestments designed by fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, knocking on the cathedral doors three times.

Trump was seated in the front row as the guest of honor next to Macron, with invitees marveling at the freshly cleaned walls, new furniture, and state-of-the-art lighting installed as part of the overhaul.

Small crowds of Parisians and tourists gathered outside, braving wet weather and high winds to witness the rebirth of a monument that is both a symbol of the French capital and one of its most visited landmarks.

"I find it really beautiful, even more so now that the spire has been restored," Marie Jean, a 27-year-old dentist from southwest France, told AFP outside.

The reconstruction effort cost around 700 million euros ($750 million), financed by donations, with the five-year reopening deadline met despite initial predictions that it could take decades.

Part of the cathedral's lead roofing base still needs to be finished, and the statues of the apostles and saints, removed before the fire for restoration, will only be reinstalled in the first half of 2025.

The exact cause of the 2019 blaze has never been identified despite a forensic investigation by prosecutors, who believe an accident, such as an electrical fault, was the most likely explanation.

Notre Dame welcomed around 12 million visitors annually before the fire but is now expected to attract even more—"14 to 15 million"—after the reopening, according to church authorities.