The world is preparing to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame, after five years of restoration. The cathedral had been devastated by the fire on 15 April 2019.
About forty world leaders are expected for the ceremony. The head of state Sergio Mattarella and the prime minister Giorgia Meloni, both already in Paris. There will also be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who was received by the head of the Elysée Emmanuel Macron. Also in the French capital was the American president-elect Donald Trump and, surprisingly, one of his closest advisors, Elon Musk, CEO of X and Tesla.
At the end of the ceremony, the invited leaders will move to the Elysée Palace for the dinner hosted by the President of the French Republic and his wife to the heads of state, government and international organisations.
Where they will be sitting
Donald Trump will be seated between Emanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron in the front row. Alongside the French ‘premiere dame’ Jill Biden, the American first lady arrived in Paris without her husband Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelensky is also in the front row, a little further away on the right, we read on the Le Figaro website.
The ceremony
The celebrations will begin tonight at 7pm. The Elysée and the Diocese of Paris have announced that the entire reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame will take place “inside the cathedral” due to unfavorable weather conditions. “The very unfavorable weather conditions forecast by Météo France (wind gusts between 65 and 80 km/h) for Saturday 7 December in the Ile-de-France region have forced us to reorganize our device”, they explained in a joint press release on the eve of the event.
A total of 6,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized to ensure the security of the event, in a context of “very high level of terrorist threat”, according to the Police Prefecture.
The first mass
The first mass in the restored cathedral will take place on Sunday morning, at 10.30chaired by Laurent Ulrich. Macron will participate, as well as foreign heads of state and government. According to the diocese of Paris, 170 bishops and priests from the 106 Parisian parishes will be present, as well as a priest from each of the seven Eastern Rite Catholic churches, accompanied by faithful from each of these communities.
Tomorrow at 6.30 pm the first mass open to the public will also be held after the completion of the restoration work. Approximately 2,500 people are expected to attend this event, for which prior registration was required. The mass will be broadcast by France Télévisions.
Masses and religious ceremonies will then be able to resume in the building. Notre-Dame will even be open “until 10pm” during the first week, from 8 to 14 December, according to what was declared by the rector of the cathedral, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas.