Five years have passed since the fire that destroyed the cathedral.
Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, rebuilt after a fire in 2019, will once again welcome "the whole world" from December 8, a day after French President Emmanuel Macron will give a speech in the square in front of the cathedral.
"We are really looking forward to welcoming the whole world under the vault of the cathedral again," said Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris at a press conference on Wednesday, indicating that they expect 15 million visitors a year, and entry will remain free despite the government's proposal.
In the fire on April 15, 2019, the roof structure of one of Europe's most visited 12th-century Gothic monuments and the hussar tower of the cathedral burned down, and around 250 companies and two thousand professionals took part in the restoration work.
The costs were close to 700 million euros (284 billion forints), which were covered by donations from Notre-Dame.
According to the French president's office, the five-year reconstruction is "a French success that all French people should be happy about as a continuation of the success of the 2024 summer Olympic Games, contrary to the rhetoric about French decline".
According to the Élysée Palace, the French head of state, who will make a final visit to the site on November 29, will give a speech in front of the cathedral on December 7, and the next day will also participate in the first Mass held at Notre-Dame since the fire. This will be the opening of a week-long series of religious celebrations.
"The speech will be addressed to all French people," the presidential office indicated. "It will be a republican and secular moment before Notre-Dame's religious and then musical moment." The ceremony will be broadcast worldwide. Several heads of state will arrive, namely from donor countries, not all of which are Christian, the Élysée Palace said.
"All of us were flooded with intense emotions, this voice is spreading and approaching. We write November 8, and Notre-Dame says: I'm here, waiting for you," said Guillaume Normand, deputy rector of the cathedral.
The list of guests is not yet known, but Pope Francis is not expected to attend the ceremony, instead he will visit the French island of Corsica a week later, on December 15.
From December 8, the general public can once again enter the cathedral, the roof structure of which has been rebuilt in its original version, and the walls of which have been completely cleaned. In the first week of reopening, the building will be open until 10 p.m., and everyday life will resume in the church on December 16.
To handle the expected huge interest, an online booking system will be introduced,
through which an appointment can be booked the day before or on the day of the visit, and a mobile application will also be available to guide visitors around the church.
The maximum capacity of the cathedral is three thousand people. The French Catholic Church has rejected Culture Minister Rachida Dati's proposal that visitors from outside the European Union have to pay an entrance fee.
"We maintain our position unchanged, which is the position of the Church in France on the need for free access to churches and cathedrals. And we repeat that this principle does not conflict with the concern for the protection of religious heritage," said the Archbishop of Paris.
MTI
Cover image: Notre-Dame
The bell used at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and then donated to Notre-Dame Cathedral after its arrival at the cathedral in Paris on November 7, 2024, when the cathedral's eight bells will ring again after more than five years in the northern in a tower. The bells removed from the north tower, which burned down in the fire on April 15, 2019, returned to Notre-Dame in September 2024, in the other tower of which the Olympic bell is located together with two smaller ones.
MTI/EPA/Christophe Petit Tesson
