The date for the partial reopening of the 860-year-old Notre Dame cathedral, damaged by fire in 2019, has been confirmed as 8 December 2024, five and a half years after the fire that destroyed the historic monument on the Île de la Cité on the Seine in Paris.

According to the plan, worshippers will be allowed to enter the cathedral until December 2024, but renovation work will continue in the surrounding area. A new cathedral museum is also on the way.

According to French newspaper Le Monde, the date was announced during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the site on 8 December.

Macron said he hoped Pope Francis would attend the opening and announced that a museum dedicated to the history, art and reconstruction of Notre Dame would be established in the centre of Paris.

Macron also inaugurated part of the cathedral tower designed by Violet-le-Duc in the 19th century (the Violet-le-Duc tower was the second tower built for the cathedral after the original 13th-century tower was removed due to damage in the late 18th century). The tower will eventually be crowned with a rooster and a cross. The complete restoration of the structure, together with the renovation of the surrounding area, including the front square, is expected to continue until 2028.