Visitors to Notre Dame Cathedral have expressed anger and frustration after those without a QR code were denied entry.

Boos and groans were heard across the Île de la Cité – the island upon which the Gothic masterpiece has stood since the 12th century – as a looped loudspeaker announced: “If you do not have a QR code proving a reservation, then you will not be allowed to enter.”

The instruction contradicted advice on Dec 2 from Father Ribadeau Dumas, the rector-archpriest of Notre Dame, that “there will always be a queue on the forecourt outside for those without a reservation”.