Paris, France — US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday arrived in Paris to join other world leaders for the reopening of the French capital’s Notre Dame cathedral, celebrating its remarkably rapid restoration half a decade after the devastating fire.
Held up as an example of French creativity and resilience by President Emmanuel Macron, Notre Dame’s renaissance so soon after a 2019 blaze that destroyed its roof and spire comes at a difficult time for the country.
Macron scored a major coup by attracting Trump for the reopening, on his first foreign trip since his election.
The president-elect is to hold talks with Macron and may also meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, one of scores of other world leaders descending on Paris for the day.
But the sense of national accomplishment in restoring a beloved symbol of Paris has been undercut by political turmoil that has left France without a proper government and in a budget crisis.
Macron is hoping that the first full service inside Notre Dame and the sight of around 40 world leaders in Paris might provide a fleeting sense of pride and unity — as the Paris Olympics did in July and August.
The reopening “is the proof that we know how to do grand things, we know how to do the impossible and the whole world has admired us for it on two occasions this year,” Macron said during a televised address on Thursday, referring to the widely praised Olympics.
During a visit with TV cameras last week however, he somewhat undermined the suspense behind the reopening, revealing the cathedral’s freshly scrubbed limestone walls, new furniture and vaulted wooden roof cut from ancient oak trees selected from the finest forests of France.
The reconstruction effort has cost around 700 million euros ($750 million), financed from donations, with the reopening achieved within five years despite predictions it could take decades.
Workers had to overcome problems with lead pollution, the COVID-19 epidemic, and the general overseeing the project falling to his death while hiking in the Pyrenees last year.
Trump show?
Trump accepted an invitation from Macron to attend earlier this week, saying the French leader had done “a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so.”
Traveling on a private plane, he landed at Orly airport in the south of Paris Saturday morning.
US President Joe Biden will be represented by his wife Jill, while Britain’s Prince William will also be present.
Zelensky is expected to seek his first face-to-face meeting with Trump who has vowed to force a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, possibly by withholding US weapon supplies.
One surprising absentee will be Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, who has decided against breaking off from a weekend trip to the French island of Corsica.
A message from Francis addressed to the French people will be read out to the congregation of VIPs, church figures, and selected members of the public when the service begins on Saturday evening.
