Five years after a fire devastated its spire and vault, the Notre Dame Cathedral will officially reopen to the public. It will be on December 8 with entry until 10 p.m., as confirmed by the temple's rector, Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, on Wednesday. Eight days later, on December 16, ordinary life will return to one of Paris' emblems and one of the most visited monuments in the French capital after an extensive restoration process.
A free ticketing system will allow individuals to reserve entry "the day before or on the same day" of the visit, stated Sybille Bellamy-Brown, the cathedral's public management officer, during a press conference in Paris, as reported by the French news agency AFP. The day before the public reopening, there will also be a liturgical ceremony with the presence of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron. On the 8th, the liberal leader will also be present at the new mass to be held inside.
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has been immersed in a reconstruction process that has lasted for five years, involving over 1,000 people, following the fire that ravaged a large part of its structure on the afternoon of April 15, 2019. The iconic spire of the temple, designed by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, and the roof, which collapsed almost entirely, were affected. There were also minor damages to the north tower, but both the facade and both towers remained intact, preventing the temple from collapsing.
The fire at the emblematic Parisian Gothic church occurred during restoration work that was expected to be completed in 2022. After the flames, those deadlines were discarded, leading to a deeper reconstruction that will finally culminate this December, meeting the deadlines set by the French government. Initially estimated to exceed 700 million euros in costs after the fire, more than 340,000 donors from 150 countries have contributed 846 million euros, according to the figures from the public company overseeing the reconstruction.
Prior to the reopening, on November 29, Macron will make a final visit to the restoration site and deliver a speech, this time inside the Parisian cathedral, to thank those involved in the reconstruction efforts. This will be his seventh visit to the temple, with the last one precisely on December 8, 2023. From the President's surroundings, as reported by AFP, they consider the feat of the reconstruction in just five years as "a success for which all French people are called to rejoice," in continuity with what the last summer's Olympic Games also represented. The Elysée Palace asserts that this goes against the discourse "on French decline."
For the ceremony preceding the reopening on December 7, the French government has invited foreign heads of state and government. However, Emmanuel Macron's team has not yet confirmed who will be present. They have also not commented on whether Pope Francis, who has also been invited, will attend.