

The remarkable momentum seen since the reopening of Paris's famous cathedral in December 2024 has shown no sign of slowing: Notre-Dame has been drawing massive crowds. The summer season brought an unusual surge in visitors, with 1.8 million entries recorded in July and August alone.
By the first week of September, total attendance had surpassed eight million. Projections now anticipate a total of 12 million to 13 million visitors by December 8, one year after the cathedral's grand reopening. This secures Notre-Dame's status as the most visited monument in France, ahead of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre (nine million visitors in 2024), the Musée du Louvre (8.7 million), the Château de Versailles (8.4 million) and the Eiffel Tower (6.3 million).
Comparison with the period before the April 2019 fire, however, is difficult. The often-cited figure of 11 million visitors is imprecise and "probably exaggerated," according to the cathedral's rector, Monseigneur Olivier Ribadeau Dumas. Only after security gates were installed under the Portal of the Last Judgment at the end of the restoration work was a rigorous visitor count introduced.
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