Sawt Falasteen - Notre Dame welcomes back public for mass after five-year refit

The beloved Paris monument nearly burned down in 2019, but has been fully renovated inside and fitted with a new roof and spire during a frenzied five-year overhaul.

The inaugural mass on Sunday morning was led by Paris archbishop Laurent Ulrich with 150 bishops and more than 100 priests from the capital in attendance, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron.

The archbishop consecrated the new 800-kilogram bronze altar which replaced the old one that was lost in the five years ago.

"Whether you are here in person in the cathedral or in front of a screen, including perhaps under the rain, I greet you with intense emotion," Ulrich told the congregation, referring to the small rain-drenched crowds outside watching events on public screens.

"This morning, the pain of April 15 2019 has been erased," he added, referring to the date of the inferno, the cause of which remains unknown.

In the evening, around 2,500 people attended a second service and the first mass open to the public, with free tickets made available online last week.

"It's incredible to see Notre Dame transformed," Cyriac de Belsunce, a 21-year-old scout from Paris, told AFP. "It's changed, it's more radiant. There's a lot more light."

The cathedral will open fully to visitors on December 16 via an online reservation system.

- 'For Jesus' -

During a re-opening service on Saturday attended by world leaders including US President-elect Donald Trump, Macron expressed the "gratitude of the French nation" for the restoration work since 2019.

"We have rediscovered what great nations can do -- achieve the impossible," he said.

Macron is under intense political pressure, having called snap elections in June that led to a hung parliament, with the main parties now struggling to form a stable government.

In a nod to the political turmoil, archbishop Ulrich said Sunday that he "prayed also for our country that is looking to the future with worry".

Macron did not take communion on Sunday out of respect for France's secular rules which separate state and church, although his presence in the cathedral and his speech there on Saturday were widely commented on.

Groups of worshippers huddled under umbrellas on Sunday beyond a strict security perimeter set up outside Notre Dame.

Monique Kashale, a 75-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said she was "very cold but for Jesus Christ I can put up with it, for the Virgin Mary it is bearable".

- Trump in Paris -

Saturday's re-opening service began with the archbishop Ulrich, dressed in brightly coloured new vestments designed by fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, knocking on the doors of the cathedral three times.

Trump was placed on the front row as guest of honour next to Macron, with invitees marvelling at the freshly cleaned walls, new furniture and state-of-the-art lighting installed as part of the refit.

The reconstruction effort cost around 700 million euros ($750 million), financed from donations, with the five-year re-opening deadline met despite predictions it could take decades.

Part of the cathedral's lead roofing base still needs to be finished and the statues of the apostles and saints, removed before the fire to allow for their restoration, will only be reinstalled in the first half of 2025.

The exact cause of the 2019 blaze has never been identified despite a forensic investigation by prosecutors. They believe an accident such as an electrical fault was the most likely reason.

Notre Dame welcomed around 12 million visitors a year before the fire, but expects to receive an even higher figure of "14 to 15 million" after the reopening, according to the church authorities.

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G.AbuHamad--SF-PST