Donald Trump is due to attend the weekend reopening of the restored Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, in his first trip abroad as US president-elect.
In a post on his Truth Social network, Donald Trump announced: "It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago".
The 850-year-old edifice which was ravaged by a fire in 2019 will welcome visitors and worshippers again this Saturday and Sunday, with dozens of world leaders expected among the guests.
French President Emmanuel Macron – who set the ambitious goal of rebuilding Notre-Dame within five years – conducted an inspection of the restoration on Friday, saying workers had done the "impossible" by healing a "national wound"
Macron - Trump relations
Trump also posted on Truth Social that Macron had "done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre-Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!"
After Trump first took office in 2017, his relations with Macron – then a fresh new face on the world stage, boosted by a resounding election win of his own – had the initial makings of a "bromance".
Ties later cooled, as the US leader pressed on with a steady retreat from multilateralism that at times ran counter to Macron's position.
As the fire ravaged the fragile cathedral in 2019, Trump urged the use of water bombers to put out the blaze, earning the ridicule of the French fire services.
Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were ultimately brought in for restoration work costing a total of nearly €700 million.
It was financed from the €846 million in donations that poured in from 150 countries in a surge of solidarity, of which the United States was the highest donor.
In December 2023, Macron said in he had invited Pope Francis to the reopening of the cathedral but the head of the Catholic church announced in September, to the surprise of some observers, that he would not be coming.
Instead, the pontiff is making a landmark visit the following weekend to the French island of Corsica.
Multi-day celebration
The reopening of Notre-Dame will be an elaborate, multi-day celebration, beginning on Saturday.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre-Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them, according to the cathedral's website.
The archbishop will also symbolically reawaken Notre-Dame’s thunderous grand organ.
The fire that melted the cathedral’s lead roofing coated the huge instrument in toxic dust. Its 8,000 pipes have been painstakingly disassembled, cleaned and retuned.
Macron will attend and address the VIP guests.
After the service, a concert will be held featuring opera singers Pretty Yende and Julie Fuchs, pianist Lang Lang, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Benin's Angelique Kidjo and Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji, according to France Télévisions.
On Sunday morning, the Paris archbishop will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar.
Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese.
The Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.
Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral sits in the middle of the River Seine, will be blocked off to tourists for the events.
A public viewing area acccomodating some 40,000 spectators will be set up along the Seine’s southern bank.
(With newswires)
