Notre Dame Cathedral reopens with jubilant ceremonies 5 years after fire nearly destroyed Gothic wonder

Notre Dame Cathedral formally reopened its doors Saturday, more than five years after a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old Gothic wonder at the center of the City of Lights.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris presided over the reopening with French President Emmanuel Macron before more than 1,500 invite-only guests, among them 50 heads of state, Prince William, first lady Jill Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, who made his first foreign trip since his electoral victory last month, and Elon Musk.

The event — the culmination of a painstaking, $760 million restoration project — took place on one of the Roman Catholic Church’s holiest days — the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, was conceived without sin.

Before the ceremony, Trump, donning a black suit and yellow tie, shook hands with world leaders, including Prince William. Macron, his wife Brigitte and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also posed for photos with Biden outside. Biden attended with her daughter, Ashley.

The cathedral’s massive bell began to sound multiple times beginning at 7:09 PM Paris time, 1:09 EST, as Macron, his wife and Hidalgo stood outside facing the cathedral in reverent attention. Crowds, well away from the cathedral due to security measures, could be heard cheering the pealing that rang over the darkened city.

The archbishop, dressed in colorful vestments, then led a procession that included priests from each Paris parish to the massive, ironwork-covered oak doors. He used his staff to knock at its door three times.

“Our Lady, most loving mother, open your doors to help us seek love and truth, justice and peace,” he said with each knock. The appeals were answered by the Notre Dame de Paris Choir School, inside the church, singing Psalm 121.

In a made-for-TV moment, Ulrich then pushed open the door to reveal the crowd gathered as the choir’s song soared in the massive nave. He briefly exited the church to shake hands with Macron, his wife and the mayor, and then they all entered together.

The crowd then viewed a video about the fire and restoration, followed by the entrance of more than 400 firefighters who responded to the blaze and others instrumental in its restoration, amid a rousing standing ovation, as “Merci,” or “Thank you” in French, was projected onto the front of the cathedral.

Led by Gen. Arnaud de Cacqueray, the commander of the Paris fire brigade, the firefighters risked their lives over 12 hours battling the April 15, 2019 fire that erupted in the attic below the wooden roof of the 226-foot-tall cathedral, which consisted of centuries-old oak beams that been undergoing repair work at the time.

The service then included a musical interlude, where a violinist and a cellist played for the rapt crowd. 

Macron was next, with an impassioned opening speech, which began with his expression of deep gratitude and ended with the words, “Vive la France.”

A procession with the priests carrying 113 banners representing each Parisian parish, followed by France’s bishops, followed through in the center aisle of the church.

Following the archbishop’s address, a message from Pope Francis was read by his representative, Celestino Migliore, an Italian Archbishop who serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to France.

Migliore quoted the Pope, who said the rebuild was “not only of an attachment to art and history, but even more so, and how encouraging, that the symbolic and sacred value of such a building is still widely perceived.”

Pope Francis also mentioned the importance of the cathedral welcoming visitors “generously and freely,” his words seemingly addressing France’s culture minister Rachida Dati’s suggestion that guests should now pay to enter. The cathedral began accepting free reservations for visitors online Saturday.

The 87-year-old pontiff did not attend the ceremony, which some saw as a snub.

The organ was then blessed by the Archbishop, who chanted, “Wake up, organ, sacred instrument.” 

Notre-Dame’s organist Olivier Latry, then played. He is the cathedral’s longest-serving organist, with 40 years at the keyboard, and was the last person to play there on Palm Sunday 2019, the day before the fire.

The organ, which dates back to the 1730s, survived the fire, but its 8,000 pipes each needed to be removed and cleaned, and the process to tune it back to the cathedral’s acoustics took about six months.

The organ awakening was followed by a hymn, along with a psalm, the canticle “Magnificat,” followed by prayers for the world and “The Lord’s Prayer.”

To conclude, the Archbishop gave a final blessing, and walked down the center aisle to the Latin hymn “Te Deum.” As the ceremony ended, the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” was sung.

Macron then invited world leaders and government representatives to the Élysée Palace, his official residence, for a celebratory dinner.

The ceremony unfolded under intense security — “a ring of steel” surrounding the cathedral, including 6,000 police officers and soldiers and surface-to-air missiles and SAS-style anti-terrorist units present across the city.

Members of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, an elite police tactical unit, deployed as rooftop snipers and helicopter-borne rapid intervention teams.

And while the event was invite-only, public viewing areas capable of holding 40,000 people were set up on the Seine’s southern bank for the public to watch the two-day events on giant screens.

The first Mass celebrated since the fire will be held on Sunday morning, with around 3,000 invited guests in attendance.

The cathedral will open to the public at 6:30 p.m. local time Sunday.

As a show of unity, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged churches across the nation to peal their bells at 2 p.m.

The damage from the fire was catastrophic — the medieval cathedral’s iconic 105-foot-tall spire collapsed and it was left with gaping holes in its roof.

The Paris prosecutor’s office found no evidence the fire was intentional.

Worldwide reaction was swift — nearly $1 billion was pledged in donations large and small to rebuild the cathedral in the days after the fire. About $62 million was donated by Americans to the restoration fund, according to the Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, which counted 10,500 donors from more than 50 countries, and roughly 2,000 craftspeople helped to rebuild it.

About $148 million from that pool remains for future repairs at the landmark, which took nearly 200 years to construct and was built in stages between the 12th and 14th centuries. Over its span, it’s been a site where history has been made, including the crowning of Henry VI in 1431 and the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804.

With the 1831 publication of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” came renewed interest in restoring its structure, a grand effort which took place between 1844 and 1864.

Before the fire, Notre Dame had not undergone any significant restoration in more than 150 years, and was in need of repair, which is why it was being renovated when the blaze erupted. 

Visitors will see the cathedral’s religious relics and priceless artworks, which were salvaged by good Samaritans who formed a human chain to take out the precious items, including the Crown of Thorns, the wreath believed to have been placed on Jesus Christ’s head during his crucifixion, and the tunic of St. Louis, believed to have belonged to Louis IX, who was king of France from 1226-1270.

A series of 13 17th- and early 18th-century paintings known as the “Mays” were also rescued during the fire and are now back in the cathedral, along with a host of other treasures.

Other famed artwork, including statues dedicated to the 12 apostles and four Gospel writers, were fortunately removed days before the fire due to the ongoing restoration that sparked the blaze.

The famed rose windows also remained intact, as did the cathedral’s bells, which rang out across the city for the first time last month in anticipation of the reopening.

The cathedral attracted between 14 million to 15 million visitors each year prior to the fire, according to France’s Tourism Board.