Those responsible for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral reorganized their plans this Friday and it will finally be carried out only inside the temple due to the expected unfavorable weather conditions.
“By common agreement between the diocese of Paris and the Presidency of the Republic, the entire ceremony will take place inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” those two institutions detailed in a joint statement.
Specifically, the organizers indicated that the French meteorological services predict wind gusts of between 65 and 80 kilometers per hour.
This forces us to reorganize the preparations, which initially contemplated two very marked times: a more political one abroad, led by the president, Emmanuel Macron, and another inside, more purely religious, with the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, as protagonist.
The ceremony was going to start at 7 p.m. (18 GMT) in the patio next to the façade, where all the guests were going to be located.
Read: What you should know about the reopening this Saturday of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral
The list of attendees includes US first lady Jill Biden and president-elect Donald Trump; the Belgian kings Philip and Matilda; the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier; the Ukrainian, Volodymyr Zelensky; the Paraguayan head of state, Santiago Peña, or that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi.
To begin, a video about the reconstruction was going to be projected and a dramatized reading and a musical number were going to be performed, before giving way to the highlight of the events abroad: a speech by President Macron to highlight the reopening as a moment of national pride and unity.
From the Elysée they had stressed the secular and republican nature of the president’s intervention and making the speech abroad precisely contributed to reinforcing that message.
Only after these acts, according to the original planning, would Archbishop Ulrich take the lead in striking the door of the Gothic cathedral with the cross, pronouncing a psalm three times before crossing the threshold.
With that solemn moment, Notre Dame would be officially reopened and all guests could be allowed inside.
The organization has not transmitted how the program will be developed when it is moved entirely inside the cathedral.
Tomorrow is the second time that the weather has ruined a major event this year, after rain completely washed out the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, which ran along the Seine and next to the Eiffel Tower. .
In that case, despite everything, it remained as planned and became the first Olympic opening held outside a stadium.
With information from EFE
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