Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, badly damaged by a devastating fire in 2019, will reopen its doors on December 7 after a five-year renovation.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has pledged to rebuild the cathedral within five years, has overseen the completion of the roughly $1.08 billion (€1 billion) restoration, funded by global donations.
The opening ceremony will be attended by 2,000 guests, including political leaders such as US President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Charles III, Europe 1 reported.
The media reported that the Pope, whom French President Emmanuel Macron was keen to see among the 3,000 invited guests, was definitely not coming. The pontiff said he would give “priority to people who need it more.” The Vatican considers the ceremony “politicised.”
On November 29, construction work to rebuild Notre-Dame after the fire is coming to an end. It is known that the opening ceremony of the cathedral after long negotiations will be divided into two days and three stages: secular, religious and cultural.
The opening ceremony of the cathedral almost became a scandal
Heads of state and hundreds of other distinguished guests are expected at the December 7 event, primarily sponsors of the restoration of the Parisian landmark. Macron will address the gathering in a speech that has been the subject of scandal.
Initially, there were talks that the president would speak directly in the walls of Notre-Dame, allegedly for the convenience of participants. This idea caused a wave of public outrage. In social networks appeared collages with Macron in a Catholic cassock, began to joke that the French president associates himself with the main bell of the cathedral, which also bears the name Emmanuel and rings only on special occasions.
The French also reminded that political events in cathedrals are forbidden by law. Charles de Gaulle’s grandson Pierre said that the Notre-Dame Cathedral “has not been dared to be encroached upon, not even by kings, except by a man who does not believe in God, France or his people.” In the end, the plan was reworked: Macron will give a speech outside the cathedral walls, and the ceremony will be aimed at “all French people, regardless of their philosophical views or religious beliefs.”
Fire and reconstruction
Notre-Dame Cathedral was engulfed by fire on April 15, 2019. The fire could not be put out for more than 12 hours. As a result, the spire and a third of the roof collapsed. The prosecutor’s office believes that the cause of the fire could have been a faulty electrical wiring or an unextinguished cigarette. The French President immediately after the fire set a goal to open the cathedral in five years.
Already after the start of restoration work, the French Ministry of Culture said that the cathedral was in danger of collapse. In August 2019, due to the heat recorded the fall of stones from the vaults of the nave. The abbot of the temple Patrick Chauvet also noted that the vaults of the cathedral could collapse due to scaffolding.
