Reopening of Notre Dame After Years of Reconstruction to Be Solemnly Begun With Archbishop's Knock on the Door

This weekend, a solemn ceremony will be held to open Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after extensive renovations following the massive fire in Notre Dame in 2019. AP writes about it.

The highlights of the ceremony will be the ritual opening of the massive doors of the cathedral, playing the organ and holding the first mass.

US President-elect Donald Trump and dozens of heads of state and government have accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to take part in the ceremony.

According to the cathedral's rector, Catholics are so eager to pray in Notre Dame again that tickets for the first week of Mass were sold out in 25 minutes.

During the first part of the ceremony on Saturday evening, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will receive more than 1,500 guests at a solemn service. But before that, he will open the great doors of Notre Dame for the first time, knocking on them three times with his bishop's rod.

The baton was created especially for this event by designer Sylvain Dubuisson. The wood, which shows black fire marks, was taken from pieces of the cathedral's roof that collapsed during the fire.

In response to the knock, a choir will sing in the cathedral, then the doors will open and guests will be able to enter the cathedral past the sculptures of biblical characters.

After the door opening ceremony, Ulrich will ‘wake up’ the cathedral's giant organ. To do this, he will address the musical instrument with the words ‘Wake up, organ, sacred instrument! Sing the praises of God’. This call will start a ‘conversation with the organ’, in which four organists will take turns playing, responding to the Archbishop's words.

The second part will take place on Sunday. It will be a Mass with special rites of consecration of the high altar.

In October, for the first time in five years after the 2019 fire, the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral rang in Paris.