Notre Dame Cathedral 'Back in the Light' After Glorious Reopening
Breaking five years of silence, the bell of Notre-Dame, known as the bourdon, rang out across Paris.
The doors of the newly restored Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral were officially reopened to the public during a ceremony Saturday evening just over five years after a blaze ravaged the iconic structure’s roof, frame, and spire.
The celebration, which began at around 7:20 p.m. local time, was attended by some 1,500 people, including around 40 heads of state, including U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai of Antioch were among the 170 bishops from France and around the world who attended the ceremony, which featured a message from Pope Francis, who did not travel for the occasion.
Authorities mobilized a massive security force of some 6,000 police and gendarmes for the event, citing a “very high level of terrorist threat.” Space was provided for up to 40,000 people outside the cathedral.
The choir, clergy and guests stand during the ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral on Dec. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. After five years of restoration, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened its doors to the world in the presence of Emmanuel Macron and around 50 heads of state, including President-elect Donald Trump, invited for the occasion. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Notre-Dame de Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was initially scheduled to speak on the cathedral’s forecourt to respect the law of separation between the Church and the state, wound up speaking inside the building due to inclement weather, as previously announced in a press release from the Archdiocese of Paris.
Expressing “the gratitude of the French nation” to the cathedral’s rebuilders during his address, Macron asserted that Notre Dame “tells us how much meaning and transcendence help us to live in this world.”
Breaking five years of silence, the bell of Notre-Dame, known as the bourdon, rang out across Paris. This was the first step in the reopening office, initiated by three knocks on the cathedral’s central portal, the Portal of the Last Judgement, by the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich. The opening of the doors was set to the music of the polyphonic piece Totus Tuss, composed in 1987 by Henryk Gorecki during John Paul II’s visit to Poland, and sung by the 150 young members of the Maîtrise de Notre Dame.
“May the rebirth of this admirable Church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France,” Pope Francis said in a letter read by the apostolic nuncio of France, Monsignor Celestino Migliore, after a tribute to the firefighters who saved the 800-year-old cathedral from the flames and the French president’s speech. “I invite all the baptized who will joyfully enter this cathedral to feel a legitimate pride and reclaim their faith heritage,” he added.
There followed the awakening and blessing of the great organ, a three-century-old instrument whose pipes had remained clogged with lead dust following the 2019 fire.
“Notre-Dame has known darkness, now it is back in the light. It has known silence, and now it rediscovers the joy of our chants,” said Archbishop Ulrich, who took possession of the Paris cathedral for the first time, two years after his nomination as head of the Paris archdiocese, succeeding Archbishop Michel Aupetit.
In his brief homily, Archbishop Ulrich emphasized that “it is not only princes, chiefs and notables who have their place in the Church,” but that “the door is open to all,” including foreigners and non-believers.
After singing the Magnificat and reciting the Our Father, the ceremony concluded with a final blessing and the singing of the Te Deum.
Brigitte Macron, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and President of France Emmanuel Macron attend the ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral on Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, France. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Notre-Dame de Paris
At the end of the religious ceremony, a concert organized and broadcast by France Télévisions and Radio France featured internationally renowned artists including Chinese pianist Lang Lang, South African soprano Pretty Yende, and Franco-Swiss tenor Benjamin Bernheim.
The consecration Mass for the cathedral’s new main altar was scheduled for Sunday at 10:30 a.m. local time, again in the presence of the French President and religious leaders. The cathedral itself was not desecrated by the blaze, as Archbishop Aupetit celebrated a mass there two months later.
Celebrations surrounding the reopening of Notre-Dame will continue until Dec. 16, with each day devoted to welcoming different communities and groups, including firefighters and patrons. At the end of this octave, the cathedral will return to its usual schedule.
The fire, the causes of which have yet to be determined, has sparked a wave of emotion around the world, including in the United States, which has the largest number of foreign contributors to the restoration and reconstruction work, amounting to almost 700 million euros ($740 million.) Michel Picaud, president of the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, saidin a recent interview that American donors accounted for 90% of 50,000 euros worth of international donations received by the charitable association. The five years of work involved a total of 250 companies and hundreds of craftsmen.
With almost half of the French population already planning to visit the breathtaking and now-immaculate cathedral, rebuilt in the style of the one designed by 19th-century architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, extended opening hours will be offered until next Pentecost, with a new free online booking system.
At a press conference in Paris, Nov. 13, the cathedral’s rector Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas announced that some 15 million visitors would now be expected to visit the cathedral each year, compared with around 12 million before the fire. “Now is the time to return to Notre-Dame!” he declared.
