50 world leaders to attend reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris
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(Credits: Ali Sabbagh)
After five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019, Paris is preparing to host 50 world leaders for the grand reopening of the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The historic landmark will open its doors again on the weekend of December 7th and 8th for two high-security events. Attendance is invite-only, and some of the same measures used for the Paris Olympics will be employed again. From Saturday evening to Sunday night, a security cordon will seal off Île de la Cité, a stretch of the River Seine’s southern bank, and nine of its bridges.
Police Chief Laurent Nuñez also declared that only invitees and residents of Île de la Cité can access the cathedral. The small island in the middle of the Seine that houses the cathedral is usually bustling with tourists, but this reopening will limit those numbers considerably. All shops on the island will be closed for the weekend, and any boat tours that begin or end there will not run.
Nuñez revealed in an interview with Le Parisien that 50 heads of state and government officials are expected to attend the ceremony. French President Emmanuel Macron will participate, and US President-elect Donald Trump has also confirmed his attendance.
The ceremony on December 6th will kick off with Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich putting on a show by banging on the cathedral’s ornate doors with his staff in a symbolic gesture that it is time for them to open again.
Ulrich will then reawaken the cathedral’s iconic grand organ, whose 8,000 pipes have been meticulously removed, cleaned, and re-tuned after being doused in toxic dust when the fire melted the cathedral’s roof. Considering some of the pipes stand an incredible 33 feet tall, it shows how much of an undertaking the cleaning process was.
This will then give way to a series of musical performances, including South African opera singer Pretty Yende and French opera star Julie Fuchs. Chinese pianist Lang Lang and cellist Yo-Yo Ma will follow before singers Angelique Kidjo and Hiba Tawaji – from Benin and Lebanon, respectively – will perform a concert that will be broadcast by France Télévisions.
On the morning of December 7th, 170 bishops from all over France and other countries and priests from all 106 Paris parishes will attend an inaugural mass where the new altar will be consecrated. A “fraternal buffet” for the needy will follow mass.
Citizens who want to watch the proceedings on large screens will be able to pack into public viewing areas on the southern bank of the Seine, which are capable of housing 40,000 interested observers.
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