President-elect Donald Trump will attend re-opening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first trip abroad since the election.
The cathedral is due to reopen on Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019 that engulfed and almost destroyed the elevated Parisian landmark. Ceremonies are held on Saturday and Sunday there will be high security jobswhere about 50 heads of state and government are expected.
Trump announced he would be among them in a post on his Truth Social page Monday night.
“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 rebuilt after a devastating fire five years ago,” he wrote. . “President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job in ensuring that Notre Dame is returned to its full level of glory, even more. It will be a very special day for everyone!”
It will be Trump’s first trip abroad since winning the presidential election in November. He traveled to Scotland and Ireland in May 2023, as a candidate, visit your local golf courses.
Trump was president in 2019 a big fire engulfed Notre Dame, collapsing its tower and threatening to destroy one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures, known for its enchanting stained glass windows.
Trump watched the inferno in horror, along with the rest of the world.
“It’s so horrible to watch the big fire in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” he wrote on the then-named Twittergiving his advice to the city.
“Perhaps flying water tankers could be used for extinguishment. You have to act fast!” he wrote.
They appeared to be French officials reply soon afternothing that “every means” was used to extinguish the flames, “except water-bombing aircraft which, if used, could bring down the whole structure of the cathedral.”
Trump then spoke with Macron and Pope Francis to express his condolences and said was offered to them “the help of our great renovation and construction experts.”
Trump and Macron had a complicated relationship.
During Trump’s first term in office, Macron proved among the world leaders most adept at managing the US president’s whims as he sought to develop a personal relationship built largely on flattery.
Macron was the guest of honor at Trump’s first state dinner, and Trump has traveled to France several times. But the relationship soured as Trump’s term wore on, with Macron criticizing him for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual defense pact.
While running for a second term this year, Trump frequently mocked Macron on the campaign trail, mimicking his accent and threatening to impose high tariffs on bottles of wine and champagne sent to the US if France tried to tax American companies.
After Trump won another term last month, Macron rushed to curry favor with the president-elect. He was among the first world leaders to congratulate Trump — even before the Associated Press declared the race in his favor — and beat British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to a congratulatory phone call.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump“, Macron announced on X early on November 6. “We are ready to work together as we have done for four years. With your beliefs and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Macron and other European leaders are trying to convince Trump not to drop US support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s nearly three-year-old invasion. European leaders are hoping to convince Trump that a Russian victory would be considered a defeat for the US – and for the next president, by extension – hoping to convince him that he should seek an end to the war that would be more favorable to Kiev than he can otherwise ask for.
Trump over the weekend announced that he intended nominate developer Charles Kushnerhis son-in-law’s father, Jared Kushner, as ambassador to France. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Reopening Our Lady it will be complex, multi-day celebrationat the beginning of Saturday.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside over the reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre Dame’s closed doors with his staff to reopen them, according to site of the cathedral.
The archbishop will also symbolically wake the thundering grand organ of Notre Dame. The fire that melted the lead roof of the cathedral covered the huge instrument with poisonous dust. His 8,000 pipes were painstaking disassembled, cleaned and readjusted.
Macron will attend and address VIP guests.
After the service, opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Singer born in Benin Angelique Kidjo; Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji and others will perform at the concert on Saturday night, according to France Télévisions.
On Sunday morning, the Archbishop of Paris will lead the inaugural mass and dedication of the new altar.
Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join in the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Diocese of Paris. Mass is followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.
The Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral is located in the middle of the Seine River, will be blocked off for tourists due to the event. A public auditorium with space for 40,000 spectators will be installed along the south bank of the Seine.
