President-elect Donald Trump will be traveling to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, making his first foreign visit after his electoral victory in November.
The French landmark cathedral will reopen its doors to churchgoers and tourists on Saturday for the first time since its iconic spire collapsed when the building caught fire in 2019.
Trump announced the trip in a short post on his Truth Social app. “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,” the president elect wrote.
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He also offered praise for French President Emmanuel Macron, claiming he did 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!”
Macron was the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump after his electoral victory, promising to work closely with the president-elect as he had during his first term in office.
The inauguration ceremony scheduled for Saturday, December 7 is closed to the public, but Trump will be one of many world leaders expected to attend the event. Security in France are gearing up for about 50 foreign heads of state or government to make the trip to the cathedral, Paris Police Prefect Laurent Nuñez told the Associated Press earlier on Monday.
Security will be especially tight around Notre Dame, and only guests of the ceremony and local residents will even be able to enter Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the Seine home to Notre Dame and other Paris landmarks.
Notre Dame will reopen to the public the next day, according to France’s Office of Tourism. The cathedral’s first public mass will be broadcast across France the same day.
