The message is first of all hope. “It is with immense joy that we welcome you to the solemn mass celebrating the Octave of the reopening of the doors of Notre-Dame of Paris », Promises the official website of the cathedral. But the faithful, a candidate to discover the building, quickly became disillusioned. A few minutes after the opening, this Tuesday at 11 a.m., of reservations for the first evening services from Sunday under the nave of the restored vessel, the word “sold out” appears on each of the dates, from December 8 to 16.
THE first thousand places gone at lightning speed, like tickets to a rock star concert. Enough to disappoint the tens of thousands of suitors who waited for long minutes, first when the site loaded, then in the “ waiting room ”, the queue, due to “high traffic”.
Notre-Dame being a global tourist site, instructions are given in English. The announced waiting time tends to glitch, dropping suddenly or increasing by a few minutes when it is supposed to drop, curiously going from 12 to 17 minutes.
“Limit personal belongings”
To keep potential visitors in suspense, a photo, under a big blue sky, of the two towers of the cathedral and its rose window, appears on the computer screen. After leaving the waiting room, you must specify the number of adult and/or child visitors expected. But clicking to get your tickets does not guarantee that the wish will be granted.
“There are too few tickets in stock at the chosen time”, we read on the screen which suggests returning to the “date selection” tab. But there… No more choice, everything is complete! Ditto on the “Notre Dame de Paris” application, finally downloadable, on Play Store, this Tuesday at 11 a.m. On iOS (Apple), the platform is still not available at noon.
The lucky ones who have obtained the right to enter Notre-Dame on Sunday evening from 5:30 p.m. will have to present, on the square, their ticket received by email, printed or displayed on their smartphone. They are recommended to “limit personal effects and bags in order to facilitate security checks”.
New slots available from Saturday
This Saturday, new slots must be offered for visits outside of Mass from Monday for a series of “nocturnal” visits. The emblem of the Île de la Cité will open its doors to visitors at specific times, from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday December 9 to Friday December 13, then from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15.
From December 16, return to classic operation, with opening from 7:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. For these slots, reservation is not obligatory but strongly recommended. It guarantees “reduced waiting time” and therefore avoids having to wait for a long time in lines on the square. What the rector-archpriest Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas explained during the police headquarters press conference relating to the security device deployed on December 7 and 8 around the cathedral : “Individual visitors will be able to reserve a half-hour slot free of charge a few hours or a few days before their arrival. A completely optional option which aims solely to streamline entries and limit unnecessary waiting. There will always be a line without reservation present on the square. »
A more “flexible” system underlines Mgr Ribadeau-Dumas. “There are times of the year when we know there are more people and therefore we increase the rate of compulsory reservations to enter the cathedral. When there are fewer people, we leave the line where people can enter freely, wider, bigger. We manage to resolve this hour by hour,” he explains.
During the first weeks of reopening, the record crowds risk slowing down the pace: visitors who have had the chance to enter the cathedral will not be in a hurry to leave and leave their place to others. “Before the fire, the visit duration was 15-20 minutes on average. When it reopens, it will be more like 40-45 minutes. We don’t have an hourglass, we’re not going to put people out,” explains Sybille Bellamy-Brown, responsible for the public at Notre-Dame. At any given time, between 2,500 and 2,600 visitors can stroll through the aisles of the building.