Donald Trump to attend reopening of Notre Dame in Paris

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump will attend the weekend reopening of the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which was ravaged by a 2019 fire, he said Monday.

The 850-year-old edifice will welcome visitors and worshippers again this Saturday and Sunday, with several world leaders expected among the guests, after a sometimes challenging restoration.

"It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration of the medieval cathedral on Friday, saying workers had done the "impossible" by healing a "national wound."

He had set the ambitious goal of rebuilding Notre Dame within five years and to make it "even more beautiful" than before, a target that French authorities say has been met.

Trump wrote that Macron had "done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!"

Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were brought in for restoration work costing a total of nearly 700 million euros (more than $750 million at today's rate).

It was financed from the 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 countries in a surge of solidarity.

Macron said in December 2023 he had invited Pope Francis to the reopening of the cathedral but the head of the Catholic church announced in September, to the surprise of some observers, that he would not be coming.

Instead, the pontiff is making a landmark visit the following weekend to the French island of Corsica.