This Sunday, December 8, 2024, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral opens its doors to the public for the first time in 5 years. Schedules, reservations, here’s how to access the building.
The restored Notre-Dame de Paris welcomes its first visitors this Sunday evening for a solemn mass celebrating the Octave of the reopening of its doors. The capacity is already full, with thousands of places being sold in just a few minutes via the free reservation system. Since Saturday, new slots have been offered for visits outside of Mass from Monday, December 9. But you will have to deal with the specific schedules of the cathedral during this Octave of reopening, from December 8 to 15.
Notre-Dame de Paris has finally risen from its ashes since the fire of April 15, 2019, and the public will be able to discover the redeveloped square in front of the cathedral as well as a tour highlighting the restored works. Will it be necessary to reserve the following weeks and at what times? Is access free?
Do you have to pay to go to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris?
Entrance remains free: “We maintain unchanged our position which is that, and repeatedly reiterated, of the Church (…) in France on the necessary free access to churches and cathedrals. And recalled that this principle does not does not contradict the concern to safeguard religious heritage”, Mgr Ulrich announced. SOnly access to the Treasury – liturgical and historical objects – requires a paid ticket.
A time slot reservation application has been set up, called “Notre-Dame de Paris” (blue logo ND), the system can only accommodate a maximum of 3,000 visitors simultaneously. The application is available for free download on the Android and Apple stores. Individual reservations are possible upon reopening, but for groups it will be for Pentecost 2025. Four tour routes adapted to different visitors are offered, including a classic route, one for pilgrims, one for families and one with audio description. They are available in three languages: French, English and Spanish.
What are the opening hours of Notre-Dame de Paris?
The first week of opening, from December 8 to 15, 2024, the cathedral is open from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, then from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15. “On December 16, ordinary life will resume,” however, clarified the rector of the cathedral, Mgr Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, during a press conference in Paris, with opening hours from 7:45 a.m. to 7 p.m.
What date is set for the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris?
The reopening of Notre-Dame is scheduled for Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. “In 2024, you will see in the sky of Paris shining the arrow which will no longer be the arrow of Viollet-Le-Duc but of Philippe Villeneuve [l’architecte en charge de la reconstruction – NDMLR] ” declared General Jean-Louis Georgelin at the start of the project. But the reopening of the cathedral does not mean an end to the work. The restoration project of the cathedral will continue for another 4-5 years.