Notre-Dame reveals its newfound splendor to the world after a 5-year restoration

With just a week to go before this grand reopening and the return of the public, on the weekend of December 7 and 8, the rebuilt cathedral will be visible through a stroll by the Head of State, broadcast live in the morning on several French and international channels.

"Even more beautiful than before, in the restored brilliance of the blondness of the stones and the colour of the chapels," wrote the president in a document distributed to the media.

This "project of the century" was a "challenge that many considered insane and that we will meet on December 7," he added.

In a bad political position, Emmanuel Macron is banking heavily on this event, which he has elevated to the rank of "French pride" with the successful Olympic Games last summer.

He has invited a large number of foreign leaders next weekend in the hope of making it a global event, but the list of those present is not yet known, and Pope Francis has preferred to go to Corsica a week later rather than to Paris.

The president had once hoped to speak in the cathedral when it reopened, but after tough negotiations with the diocese, he will speak only on the forecourt.

So it is this Friday that he will speak in Notre-Dame, for a speech of thanks during which he should exalt "French know-how", a "collective success", a "chapter of which we can be proud".

All 2.000 people who contributed to the work have been invited, of whom at least 1.300 are expected to attend.

Final visit

"This final site visit is an opportunity to thank them in particular, from wood craftsmen to those of metal and stone, from scaffolders to roofers, from bell makers to art restorers, from gilders to masons and sculptors, from carpenters to organ builders, from architects, archaeologists, engineers and planners to logistical or administrative functions," said Emmanuel Macron.

Patrons will also be in the spotlight, as the project of the century, which cost some 700 million euros, was financed exclusively by donations.

The work has cleaned up the dirt that has accumulated over the decades, and the "immaculate whiteness" of the Catholic building looks dazzling "like never before," according to the presidential entourage.

"The president's advisers hope that he will relaunch with Notre-Dame," but "he will only gain political capital from it in the long term," says a close friend of Emmanuel Macron.

Musk ahead of Macron

The first photos from the Magnum agency were published Friday by Le Parisien, and an unofficial video circulated on X, reposted by billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social network.

The Élysée, in presenting this visit to the press, did not skimp on superlatives, using the word "brilliance" no less than twenty times.

"Amazement", "striking" view, "fireworks of colors": the presidential advisers promised a breathtaking spectacle, and a striking contrast with the "gaping vault", the "charred waste" and the "unbearable" smell that Emmanuel Macron had discovered on the evening of the fire, April 15, 2019.

The flames had ravaged the roof and the framework of this masterpiece of 12th century Gothic art, which is one of the most visited monuments in Europe.

The 93-metre-high spire of Viollet-le-Duc has been rebuilt identically.

Broadcast around the world, the fire, the causes of which have still not been determined, had sparked a wave of global emotion.

In a journey in around ten stages, from the forecourt to the framework, passing through the nave, the crossing of the transept or even the Saint-Marcel chapel, the visit has been designed to show the main achievements of this titanic project.

At each stop, Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife and the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich, will talk with some of the people who worked to resurrect Notre-Dame. Among them, the Belgian architect and landscaper Bas Smets, who designed the new parvis, Guillaume Bardet, the designer who created the new liturgical furniture, Jean-Louis Bidet, one of the carpenters, Marie Pouliot and Marie Parant, restorers of murals, or Pascal Prunet, chief architect of historic monuments.