Emmanuel Macron last night said the epic reconstruction of Notre-Dame showed that great nations could achieve “the impossible” as its bells rang out at the re-opening ceremony of the cathedral before 40 world leaders. 

The French president extended the “gratitude of the French nation to all those who saved and rebuilt” the Gothic masterpiece ravaged in a fire in April 2019 that destroyed its spire and saw parts of the vaulted ceiling of the world-renowned edifice collapse. 

Mr Macron told leaders and dignitaries, including Prince William, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, that Notre-Dame was a symbol of fraternity that a fractured world would do well to emulate. 

“We have rediscovered what great nations can do: achieve the impossible,” he said. “This cathedral is a happy metaphor for what a nation is and what the world should be,” said the French president who was behind the ambitious plan to rebuild the stricken cathedral in record time.