AFP, WASHINGTON
US president-elect Donald Trump plans to attend the weekend reopening of the restored Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, in his first trip abroad since he was re-elected, he announced on social media on Monday.
The 850-year-old edifice which was ravaged by a fire in 2019 is to welcome visitors and worshipers again on Saturday and Sunday, with dozens of world leaders expected among the guests.
“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 social media.
Firefighters douse flames rising from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019.
Photo: AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron, who set the ambitious goal of rebuilding Notre-Dame within five years, conducted an inspection of the restoration on Friday last week, saying that workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound.”
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!”
After Trump first took office in 2017, his relations with Macron — then a fresh new face on the world stage, boosted by a resounding election win of his own — had the initial makings of a “bromance.”
Ties later cooled, as the US leader pressed on with a steady retreat from multilateralism that at times ran counter to Macron’s position.
About 250 companies and hundreds of experts were ultimately brought in for restoration work costing a total of nearly 700 million euros (US$735 million).
It was financed from the 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 nations in a surge of solidarity.
Macron in December last year said that 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 going.
Instead, the pontiff is making a landmark visit the following weekend to the French island of Corsica.
