A cornerstone had been laid in the presence of Louis VII and Pope Alexander III. Thomas Becket paid a visit to Paris to observe the building under construction before returning to Canterbury to be murdered.
Napoleon was crowned emperor here in 1804, a moment captured by Jacques-Louis David, his official painter. Almost two centuries before Disney musicals and Netflix, Victor Hugo restored nobility to the cathedral, which embodies much more than the love theatre of Quasimodo and Esmeralda.
You can still see where stray bullets gouged holes in the cathedral stonework during the resistance. On August 16, 1944, Charles de Gaulle attended a celebration mass to mark the liberation.
“The bells of Notre-Dame ring again, which have marked the hours of the day, and those of history,” Macron said. “Yes, they ring, as they did for those who have accompanied our history. And yet, we could have never heard this voice again.”
Guests attend the service for the formal reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.Credit: AP
This moment on a rainy night in Paris felt timeless. A minutes-long applause was held for the 160 firefighters who were instrumental in saving and rebuilding the cathedral. Outside “Merci” was projected onto the facade.
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Macron was supposed to make his speech outside. Bishops had stressed that, as the head of the secular state, he risked eclipsing their religious message if he spoke. But a storm made that impossible.
He said the fire had offered a reminder “Notre-Dame could disappear, and this cathedral could also be mortal”. Meeting his pledge to rebuild in just five years, he declared the cathedral “even more beautiful than before”.
Merci is projected onto the facade of the cathedral as spectators gather outside. Credit: AP
Some had doubted whether his ambitious timeline was possible, given the extensive damage and the fact that the original construction of the Gothic masterpiece, begun in 1163, took 182 years to complete.
“We must keep this lesson of fraternity, humility and will,” Macron said, delivering his remarks almost in a whisper. “The greatness of this cathedral is inseparable from everyone.”
On Sunday, a Mass at the cathedral will again be attended by Macron and about 170 bishops from France and elsewhere, to consecrate the new altar. Another mass for the public will be offered in the evening, the first time ordinary visitors will be able to enter the renovated cathedral.
Now the opening festivities are over – the other dignitaries have returned home – the cathedral is expected to receive 40,000 visitors a day. Free to enter, Notre Dame boasts a record for being the most visited monument in France before the fire.
Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich (centre) leads clergy down the aisle of the cathedral.Credit: Getty Images for Notre-Dame de Paris
The difference from its previous incarnation is apparent as soon as you walk through the main doors and across the smooth polished chessboard of a floor. Gone is the dark, gloomy air familiar to anyone among the 12 million people who used to visit each year before the blaze on the evening of April 15, 2019.
Not only have considerable sections of the cathedral, including the spire and the roof, been meticulously rebuilt but everything that survived largely unscathed has been stripped of ash, lead dust and centuries of accumulated grime.
It has meant cleaning and polishing 40,000 square metres of stonework and countless chandeliers, regilding the grand pulpit and completely dismantling the 8000 pipes of the grand organ.
Philippe Jost, who oversaw the last 18 months of the cathedral’s renovation, said the reopening was a unifying opportunity.
“We hope it will be a great moment of unity for the French people, for guests from all over the world and for spectators from all over the world,” he said. “Notre-Dame de Paris unites. There are so many divisive factors. An event like this must unite, must help concord and peace to grow throughout the world.”
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