Parisians, the French and the world rediscovered the breathtaking beauty of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral on Saturday evening, five years after it was devastated by fire.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, led a guest list of international heads of state and other dignitaries including Donald Trump, the Prince of Wales, politicians and celebrities in lauding what he described as a triumph of the French nation in raising the monument from the ashes and making his country “united and proud”.
“The bells of Notre Dame ring again and the organ will be awoken. They are music of hope to Parisians, France and the world,” Macron told those gathered. “Those bells that have accompanied our history … and yet we might never have heard them again.”
Macron, who is embroiled in a political crisis after his government was toppled by a vote of no confidence last Wednesday, was back in Notre Dame on Sunday. This time republicanism gave way to religion as the Catholic church reclaimed the resurrected cathedral for the first mass since the fire in 2019.
At the centre of the liturgy was the consecration of the cathedral’s new altar by Monsignor Laurent Ulrich, the archbishop of Paris.
“The pain of the 15 April 2019 is effaced … even if the astonishment caused by the fire will endure,” Ulrich told the congregation.
He said the church had required the altar and other new religious furniture in the cathedral to represent a “noble simplicity”.
“The cathedral of Paris has rediscovered its splendour. Believers or not you are welcome to join in the pleasure of those who believe in discovering their mother church.”
Ulrich poured perfumed oil on the bronze structure and rubbed it across the surface with his hand while the organist improvised, before placing burning incense on it to the singing of the cathedral choir.
Macron did not take communion, but the first lady, Brigitte, did. Afterwards the vast cathedral rang with the sound of the choir singing Hallelujah. A second mass open to the public who have reserved free places will be held at 6.30pm (17.30 GMT).
Macron had been expected to give his address on Saturday outside the entrance to Notre Dame to conform with France’s 1905 law on the separation of church and state and the religious neutrality of French heads of state. In the event, gale-force winds and rain forced him to deliver the speech inside the cathedral, the first time a president had done so.
In his speech he praised the firefighters who had saved the cathedral, particularly those who stopped the flames reaching the north bell tower, the destruction of which would almost certainly have brought the 13th-century structure down and destroyed the building.
Macron also mentioned Victor Hugo, whose 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, persuaded the French authorities to restore the then ruined cathedral a first time.
Clément Benelbaz, a public law expert, said he did not believe Macron had broken the law. “His Notre Dame speech was, in my view, a purely political speech. There were no suggestions of a religious nature,” he told France Info.
Saturday’s reopening ceremony was relayed by France 2 and watched by 7.23 million people.
On Monday, Macron will be back at work at the Elysée attempting to name a prime minister who will form a government able to survive another no confidence vote.
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), the founding member of the the New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, which won the most seats in the national assembly, has said it will not accept Macron’s invitation to the Elysée for talks on Monday.
“We are ready to govern with the programme for which we were elected,” said Manuel Bompard, the party’s national coordinator. “No discussion other than the appointment of a New Popular Front government can take place with the head of state. We will therefore not be going to the Elysée Palace on Monday.”
Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist party (PS), and other socialist MPs met Macron on Friday. The PS said it was ready for discussions with centrists and conservative rightwing MPs on the basis of “reciprocal concessions” if it would end the political impasse.
The Greens have been invited to meet Macron on Monday, after which he is expected to announce a new prime minister.
