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Major fire hit the cathedral in 2019

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Ceremony marks reopening of Gothic masterpiece

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Cathedral is one of France's most beloved and visited

monuments

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Trump, Zelenskiy among guests at Saturday's opening

ceremony

(Adds Trump arriving, Zelenskiy applauded, paragraphs 1,4-5)

By Marco Trujillo and Noemie Olive

PARIS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel

Macron welcomed guests including Donald Trump on Saturday at

Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral for its reopening ceremony,

five-and-a-half years after a huge fire brought the Gothic

masterpiece close to collapse.

The 860-year-old medieval building has been meticulously

restored, with a new spire and rib vaulting, its flying

buttresses and carved stone gargoyles returned to their past

glory and white stone and gold decorations shining brightly once

again.

Getting U.S. President-elect Trump to attend, and organising

a meeting between him and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy

at the Elysee Palace ahead of the Notre-Dame ceremony, was a

coup for Macron as he faces a political crisis at home, after

parliament ousted his prime minister.

Trump shook hands with Britain's Prince William and heads of

state and government as he made his way to the front of the

cathedral. He was due to sit next to Macron in the front row.

Earlier, guests had stood and applauded as Zelenskiy walked

into the cathedral.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close adviser in Trump's

transition team, also attended, as did Italian Prime Minister

Giorgia Meloni and former French presidents Francois Hollande

and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Earlier, tourists, who still cannot go inside the cathedral,

snapped pictures with the restored building in the background as

final preparations for the event went on inside.

"It was very sad to see it burnt down and all black and ashy

but amazing to see it rebuilt. Yeah, it's very special," said

26-year-old U.S. tourist Amanda Nguyen, from Texas.

Some Parisians were particularly thrilled.

"What does Notre-Dame mean to me? This. Look, it's here,"

said careworker Pascal Tordeux, displaying a tattoo on his arm

representing the cathedral. "It means everything."

"I saw the construction every day from my window, the spire

being brought down, being brought back. I saw it burn, I saw it

rise again. I followed it day by day," said Tordeux, who lives

across the river from Notre-Dame.

On the evening of April 15, 2019, dismayed Parisians rushed

to the scene and TV viewers worldwide watched horrified as the

fire raged through the cathedral.

"The planet was shaken on that day," Macron said ahead of

Saturday's event. "The shock of the reopening will - I believe

and I want to believe - be as strong as that of the fire, but it

will be a shock of hope."

THOUSANDS WORKED ON RESTORATION

Forecast strong winds mean the non-religious part of the

celebrations, including Macron's speech, which had been set to

be held outside the cathedral, will also be held inside.

Would-be visitors can now book a free ticket online, on the

Cathedral's website. But on Saturday, the first day bookings

could be made for the coming days, all tickets were gone, a

message on the site said.

Group visits will be allowed next year - from Feb. 1 for

religious groups or from June 9 for tourists with guides. The

Catholic Church expects the cathedral to welcome 15 million

visitors each year.

Thousands of experts - from carpenters and stonemasons to

stained glass window artists - worked around the clock for the

last five years, using age-old methods to restore, repair or

replace everything that was destroyed or damaged.

"Notre-Dame is more than a Parisian or French monument. It's

also a universal monument," said historian Damien Berne.

"It's a landmark, an emblem, a point of reference that

reassures in a globalised world where everything evolves

permanently," said Berne, a member of the scientific council for

the restoration.

The cathedral's first stone was laid in 1163, and

construction continued for much of the next century, with major

restoration and additions made in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Victor Hugo helped make the cathedral a symbol of Paris and

France when he used it as a setting for his 1831 novel "The

Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Quasimodo, the main character, has

been portrayed in Hollywood movies, an animated Disney ( DIS )

adaptation and in musicals.

So much money poured in for the renovation from all over the

world - more than 840 million euros ($880 million), according to

Macron's office - there are still funds left over for further

investment in the building.

(Additional reporting by Michel Rose, Ardee Napolitano,

Dominique Vidalon;

Writing by Ingrid Melander

Editing by Rosalba O'Brien, Frances Kerry, Helen Popper, Giles

Elgood, William Maclean)