American President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday, December 2, that he would travel to France on Saturday to attend the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, where around fifty heads of state and government are expected. “I have the honor 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,” wrote the Republican on his Truth Social network.
The American daily newspaper located on the left, the New York Times, sees it as a “symbol of the speed with which world leaders are turning the page on the Biden presidency.” This will be his first trip abroad since his resounding victory in the presidential election on November 5. Since that date, he has very rarely left his stronghold of Mar-a-Lago, this visit being an opportunity to mark his return to the diplomatic scene. Furthermore, this trip is not surprising when we know the ex-real estate magnate’s love for pharaonic construction sites and pompous ceremonies.
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, a masterpiece of Gothic art from the 12th century, was partially destroyed by a fire on April 15, 2019. Donald Trump, then president, suggested to the French authorities, in a very tweet commented, to send water bomber planes. This fire, the causes of which have not yet been determined, caused global emotion and caused an influx of donations to rebuild the building located in the heart of Paris, which was among the most visited monuments in Europe.
President Biden absent
“President Emmanuel Macron has done a remarkable job in ensuring that Notre-Dame is restored to all its glory and even more,” praised the future head of state. The trip has been in the works for several days, according to people briefed on the planning. Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron had at least one telephone conversation, according to one of the sources, taken up by the New York Times. Note that President Biden is not expected to attend the reopening, but Jill Biden, the first lady, will be there, according to one of the people briefed.
Many foreign leaders have been invited for the reopening, but the list of those who will be present has not yet been communicated, and Pope Francis preferred to go to Corsica a week later rather than to Paris. An exceptional security system, inspired by that of the Olympic Games, is planned in a context of “very high level of terrorist threat”, according to the police headquarters, with 6,000 police officers and gendarmes mobilized. Only guests will be able to access the square, the reception capacity of which is 3,000 people maximum. On the high quays near the cathedral, an “area will be set up” to accommodate a maximum of 40,000 people.
“French pride”
The French president, who visited the site on Friday, predicted a “shock of hope” during this reopening with great fanfare. He has already lifted the veil on the new colors of the masterpiece of Gothic art more than 860 years old, which has regained a luminosity never known in living memory, during a final site visit broadcast on the television Friday. Brightly blond walls, painted decorations of the chapels and stained glass windows radiating with dazzling colors alongside new liturgical furniture in solid bronze, openwork oak chairs and a contemporary reliquary wall housing the crown of thorns that would have carried Christ during his crucifixion.
In a bad political position, the Head of State is banking on this meeting which he has elevated to the rank of “French pride”, like the Paris Olympic Games, after having met his “insane challenge” of a restoration in five years, which he himself had set for the day after the fire. For the reopening, the diocese of Paris says it does not want a “big show” and prefers to speak of a “magnificent sign of hope” tinged with “humility”, according to the rector-archpriest of the cathedral Olivier Ribadeau Dumas on France Inter on Monday.