Beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is set to open after five years of reparations, with an official unveiling on December 7 and a public opening on December 8.
After the fire, which went on for 12 hours, President Macron had set an ambitious goal to have the building restored within five years, with certain experts scoffing at the idea, saying that it would take 40 years to reconstruct.
Frantic rescuers pulled precious treasures out – like Jesus’s Crown of Thorns.
Reparations were funded by 340,000 donors from 150 countries, with the sum accrued totalling almost $900 million.
The total cost of reparations came to $737 million. Reconstruction included a new roof, spire, and three new bells.
Last week, the bells rang out, after five years of silence.
Restorers revealed intricate murals, gilded stars on ceilings, and vibrant motifs originally created under Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s, a 19th century figure famous for his medieval restorations.
Now, Phillippe Jost, who led the contemporary restoration, “believes that rebuilding Notre Dame, as they did, using ‘old’ materials of stone and wood and lead will help the 860-year-old landmark last for another 860 years, ‘and perhaps more.’”
It has been barricaded with anti-fire technologies, of course.
During the opening ceremony, Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service, banging on Notre Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them. Then he will proceed to symbolically reawaken Notre Dame’s thunderous grand organ, which was meticulously cleaned of toxic dust.
There will also be psalms, prayers and singing. Macron will hold an address.
The following performers will hold a concert on Saturday evening: opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Benin-born singer Angelique Kidjo, ebanese singer Hiba Tawaji.
On Sunday Morning, Archbishop Laurent will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar. Almost 170 bishops from around the world will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese.
Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.
The reopening will be a high-security affair, blocked off from the public. More precisely, police chief Laurent Nuñez said only people with invitations and the island’s residents will have access to the Ile de la Cité. However, public viewing areas capable of holding 40,000 people will be set up on the Seine’s southern bank, so spectators can follow the two days of events on screens, the police chief said.
Donald Trump will also attend the ceremony, along with approximately 50 heads of state and government.
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