President-elect Donald Trump will attend the upcoming reopening ceremony for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, he said 2 December.
The trip will mark his first foreign trip since his election to a second term. The 800-year-old cathedral is set to reopen 7-8 December, more than five years after a devastating fire in 2019.
The weekend ceremonies mark the completion of the yearslong restoration process and will feature dozens of heads of state.
“It is an honour 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 said in a statement posted to Truth Social.
Trump added President Emmanuel Macron of France “has 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!”
In November remarks at the site, Macron said the 15 April, 2019, fire was a tragic event that “affected the people of France” and Catholics around the globe.
He thanked the 600-some Parisian firefighters who had “saved this cathedral” after a 15-hour battle in which there were no deaths or injuries.