Several world leaders are expected to attend the opening ceremony, Pope Francis declined to attend.
The US president-elect plans to attend an official ceremony on Saturday to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged by a major fire in 2019. It will be his first trip abroad after the US presidential elections, TASR reports based on reports from the AFP and Reuters agencies.
“I am honored to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France on Saturday to attend the reopening of the magnificent and historic Notre-Dame Cathedral, which has been completely restored after a devastating fire five years ago,” Truth wrote on Monday.
Several world leaders are expected to attend the opening ceremony, but the guest list has not yet been published. Pope Francis was also invited, who surprisingly declined and will visit the French island of Corsica instead.
After the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron set an ambitious goal to reconstruct Notre-Dame within five years, which French authorities say has been achieved.
250 companies and 2,000 workers from all over the world took part in the demanding reconstruction. The renovation of the cathedral cost 700 million euros and the entire amount was provided by private donors. After the reconstruction, a new mechanism to protect against future fires and a hidden extinguishing system were added to the cathedral.
According to AFP, the French president hopes that the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral will be a significant achievement for him in the difficult political situation after early parliamentary elections this summer.
In 2017, 12 million people visited the UNESCO World Heritage site. After its reopening, the number of visitors is expected to increase by two to three million people.
