“I really can’t go in, even go to the square?” – Liberation

After a sumptuous official ceremony on Saturday, the cathedral welcomed the public for the first time since the fire this Sunday, December 8. In the queue and at the exit, and in a slightly chaotic atmosphere, the emotion was palpable.

In the queue at the entrance to the Pont d'Arcole, in front of the Île de la Cité in Paris, a homeless man speaks to the stranger next to him. “Are you going to enter Notre-Dame de Paris?” “No, I don’t have room…” “Don’t you even have one?” His astonishment is understandable: the man to whom he asks his questions wears a priest's cassock. This Sunday, December 8 at 5:30 p.m., the day after an official ceremony in the presence of around forty heads of state (Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Volodomyr Zelenzky, etc.) and more than 1,000 guests, the famous religious building has reopened its doors to the general public. A first since the fire of April 15, 2019, which caused great emotion across the world. 700 million euros in donations – the majority tax-exempt – and five years of work later, 1,500 people were able to enter the restored premises to attend a mass at 6:30 p.m. On Monday, December 2, all tickets allowing free reservation of a slot for the religious celebrations of the reopening week were sold out within two hours.

“I was able to get one for mass next Tuesday, consoles the priest, who lives in the Paris region, and who still made the trip this Sunday to come and see