On the Petit-Pont-Cardinal-Lustiger, perpendicular to the Notre-Dame forecourt, there's a perfect angle: You can take a photo of the cathedral without seeing the security barriers or the construction site in the background. Leaning against the railing, tourists of all nationalities strike a pose.
"Notre-Dame is one of the monuments I most wanted to see in Paris. It's familiar to me, because I saw the musical Notre-Dame de Paris, which toured Italy last year [in 2023]. Besides, we don't have much Gothic architecture in Italy," explained Luana, a 32-year-old Sicilian on vacation in the capital.
"I got to know Notre-Dame through the Disney cartoon. I feel very lucky to see it in real life," said Mandy, an American in her thirties living in San Francisco, California.
As the cathedral prepares to reopen on Sunday, December 8, after five years of closure, Paris will once again be home to one of the country's most popular tourist attractions. Notre-Dame boasts a record for being the most visited monument in France before the fire − primarily because it's free to visit.
In 2018, 12 million visitors passed through its doors. That's slightly more than the Sacré-Coeur, which is also free of charge, and which had 11 million visitors that year. Just behind, the Louvre attracted 10.2 million visitors; Versailles, 8.2 million; and the Eiffel Tower, 6 million.
"For many foreigners, this cathedral embodies Paris, and even France. It's one of the wonders of the world, like the pyramids or the Colosseum. What's more, it's a monument that immediately connects you with the past and, somewhere, with all humanity. In the US, we don't have anything that old, and it allows us to connect with our ancestors," said Michael Davis, a professor at Mount Holyoke University in Massachusetts, specializing in Gothic art. "What also fascinates visitors is the scale and complexity of this cathedral, which was built without any modern technology. To me, there's something extraterrestrial about it, like an immense spaceship descended from the sky."
Since 2019, the area around Notre-Dame has remained a must-see for tourists visiting the capital − by 2023, there will have been 26 million visitors. Hundreds of guides have organized tours around the parvis, despite the scaffolding and construction equipment.
"What interests visitors most is the story of the fire. It fascinates people!" said Nikhil, a 29-year-old Indian student, who has been walking small groups with the company GetYourGuide since 2022.
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