Trump to attend Notre Dame reopening in first overseas trip since election

US president-elect says helium volition sojourn Paris for ‘very peculiar day’ celebrating restoration of fire-damaged cathedral.

Donald Trump has announced helium volition be the reopening of Notre-Dame, the Paris landmark gutted by occurrence 5 years ago, successful his archetypal overseas travel since winning the United States statesmanlike election.

The 12th-century Gothic masterpiece, which was badly damaged by fire successful 2019, is acceptable to reopen its doors to visitors and the Catholic faithful connected Saturday and Sunday.

Dozens of satellite leaders are expected to be the unveiling of the restoration, which French President Emmanuel Macron has likened to the healing of a “national wound”.

“It is an grant to denote that I volition beryllium traveling to Paris, France, connected Saturday to be the re-opening of the magnificent and historical Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been afloat restored aft a devastating occurrence 5 years ago,” Trump said successful a station connected his Truth Social level connected Monday.

“President Emmanuel Macron has done a fantastic occupation ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its afloat level of glory, and adjacent much so. It volition beryllium a precise peculiar time for all!”

During his archetypal word successful office, Trump weighed successful connected the occurrence astatine Notre Dame arsenic pictures of the blaze were broadcast unrecorded worldwide, suggesting that “flying h2o tankers” could beryllium deployed to enactment retired the flames.

“Must enactment quickly!” Trump said connected Twitter, the erstwhile sanction for X.

French authorities dismissed the suggestion, saying that utilizing water-bombing craft could effect successful the illness of the “entire operation of the cathedral”.

Trump and Macron person had a complicated relationship.

Macron was among the archetypal satellite leaders to congratulate Trump connected his re-election and was the impermanent of honour astatine the erstwhile president’s archetypal authorities dinner.

But the 2 leaders besides clashed implicit Trump’s scepticism of NATO and France’s moves to hike taxes connected US tech giants.

Notre-Dame’s restoration was made imaginable with 846 cardinal euros ($887.4m) successful donations provided by immoderate 340,000 donors from 150 countries.

The five-year effort, involving immoderate 250 companies and hundreds of experts, had an estimated outgo of astir 700 cardinal euros ($734.3m).

Restoration main Philippe Jost past period told a quality league that surplus donations of astir 140 cardinal euros ($147m) would beryllium utilized for aboriginal preservation efforts.