Howling winds couldn’t stop Notre-Dame’s heart from beating again. With three resounding knocks on its doors by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, wielding a staff carved from fire-scorched beams, the cathedral roared back to life on Saturday evening.
For the first time since a devastating blaze on April 15, 2019, the towering Gothic masterpiece reopened for worship, its rebirth marked by song, prayer and awe beneath its soaring arches.
While the ceremony was initially planned to begin on the forecourt, unusually fierce December winds whipping across the central Paris island, flanked by the River Seine, forced all events inside. Yet the occasion lost none of its splendour. Inside the luminous nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ, silent for five years, thundered to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies.
The evening’s celebration, being attended by 1,500 dignitaries — including Prince William, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. first lady Jill Biden and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump — underscores Notre Dame’s enduring role as both a spiritual and cultural beacon.
For President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious five-year restoration timeline, it was a rare moment of unity amid profound political crises and threats to his presidential legacy.
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