The time for the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris has finally come and there’s a sense of excitement in the air in the French capital.
“Paris without Notre-Dame is just not Paris – it’s really touching to see it reopen,” one Parisian lady told us, beaming with joy, as she was walking along the Seine riverbank, not far away from the monument.
From Saturday morning on, people started taking up places in the front rows of what the authorities are calling “boxes” – fenced off areas around Notre-Dame with space for 40,000 people.
The spectators will be able to watch tonight’s ceremony on giant screens put up along the Seine.
A large area around the 800-year-old monument is meanwhile cordoned off with a heavy security perimeter in place – similar to the buffer zone set up during this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games.
And President Emmanuel Macron is hoping tonight’s event will be similar to the Olympics in another way.
The French capital had turned into a bubble of happiness during the summer.
Macron, during a televised speech on Thursday night, said he hoped the Notre-Dame ceremony would also bring about a “jolt of hope.”
That’s something France desperately needs after opposition parliamentarians this week ousted its government over the vote for next year’s budget.
The move has thrown the country into political and economic uncertainty and brought additional turmoil to Europe in times of international conflict and divisions.
Wars are raging in Ukraine and the Middle-East. And with Donald Trump soon back at the White House, trade wars are likely to gain speed.
Tonight’s ceremony won’t solve these issues.
But at least, it’ll be a moment of respite.
