Notre-Dame reopened, five years after the fire in Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral reopened its doors on Saturday in front of an audience of heads of state and personalities. This ceremony serves as the culmination of a reconstruction project unprecedented in the history of France.

At 7:20 p.m., the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich symbolically opened the doors on which he gave nine blows with his rifle, formalizing the rebirth of this 12th century Gothic masterpiece, saved at the last minute from the flames on April 15, 2019. “Our Lady, open your doors,” he said.

The archbishop, in an outfit designed by French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.Keystone

Inside the building, in the heart of Paris, around forty heads of state and governmentincluding the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, crowned heads, but also the billionaire Elon Musk, had taken their seats. Upon his entry, the Ukrainian leader was applauded for a long time as, later, 160 of the firefighters who saved Notre-Dame from the flames and the craftsmen who participated in its reconstruction.

The French president expressed the “gratitude of the French nation”. “We have rediscovered what great nations could do: achieve the impossible,” greeted Emmanuel Macron in a speech.

With this mondovision eventthe one who had set the “insane challenge” of a restoration in five years in the aftermath of the fire hopes to create a “shock of hope” in a country plunged into a deep political crisis since the government’s censorship on Thursday.

A religious service was then celebrated in the presence of 1500 guests. Highlights, the great organ sounded for the first time since the fire and a message from the Pope, who declined the invitation, was read.

Francis pleaded to “welcome generously and freely” the “huge crowd” of visitors expected at Notre-Dame, while the resigning Minister of Culture Rachida Dati provoked a debate by proposing to charge entry.

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“A little crazy”

At the end of the republican and liturgical ceremonies, a dinner was offered at the Elysée. At the end of the day, a trilateral meeting lasting around thirty minutes took place there between Macron, Zelensky and Trump.

The Ukrainian president called it “good and fruitful.”

The president-elect of the United States had estimated, upon his arrival, that the world seemed to be going “a little crazy”. “We will talk about it,” he added.

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The festivities will continue on Sunday with the first public masses celebrated since April 2019 at Notre-Dame, magnified by Victor Hugo and celebrated in musicals, films or a Disney cartoon.

The first of these masses, at 10:30 a.m., will consecrate the altar. The second, at 6:30 p.m., was open to the public, upon registration.

Despite the unpredictable weather, hundreds of curious people flocked to the cathedral in the morning, surrounded by an imposing security system. (ats/vz)

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