The reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on the weekend of December 7 and 8, 2024, five years after a fire on April 15, 2019, devastated the building, promises to be a grand event and a high-security affair.
Around 50 heads of state and government are expected, including American president-elect Donald Trump and Jill Biden.
The celebrations, beginning Saturday afternoon, will include both religious rituals and a star-studded classical music concert after the service. French President Emmanuel Macron will also address the VIP guests. Two masses are planned for Sunday.
The program for Saturday, December 7:
6:15 pm Paris time: World leaders will be welcomed into the cathedral.
7:30 pm: French President Emmanuel Macron will speak, paying tribute to Notre-Dame as the symbol of a resilient France that continues to build.
7:45 pm: The liturgical reopening ceremony will begin. The Archbishop of Paris will strike three blows with his staff, and the cathedral doors will reopen. Instead of a mass (as the new altar has not yet been consecrated), an evening prayer, a psalm for vespers, a homily by the bishop and a Magnificat, accompanied by the choir organ, will take place. At the end of this service, Notre-Dame will be considered reopened.
9:15 pm: A concert of mainly opera and classical music will take place on the forecourt of the cathedral, featuring the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris music school and Radio France’s Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Other confirmed performers include Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Franco-Swiss tenor Benjamin Bernheim, singers Clara Luciani, Vianney, Garou, Angélique Kidjo and Hiba Tawaji, and DJ Michaël Canitrot.
The program for Sunday, December 8:
10:30 am: The inaugural mass will take place. Macron, over 150 bishops from France and around the world, and priests and worshipers representing parishes in the Paris diocese will attend. This mass and the consecration of the altar will be presided over by the Archbishop of Paris.
6:30 pm: The first mass open to the public will take place.
Our articles on the reopening
Watch: Notre-Dame could have collapsed in April 2019. Here’s how firefighters saved the cathedral from total destruction
How the Catholic edifice became a place to celebrate national unity
What it took to rebuild Notre-Dame within five years
Notre-Dame’s 340,000 donors
A behind-the-scenes look at the ceremony
How the cathedral’s wooden framework was rebuilt identically
The stained glass debate at Notre-Dame
Find all our coverage of Notre-Dame here.
The reopening ceremony as it happened
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