Cast your minds back to April 2019, and one of the biggest news stories in the world was a catastrophic fire at Notre-Dame. Shots of the world-famous cathedral ablaze with thick smoke billowing out of its rafters were plastered over our screens, but once the embers had settled, an extensive, nearly billion-euro restoration project began, with the cathedral opening its doors once again to the public back in December.
And there has been no messing around, as Notre-Dame has just taken over the Sacré-Cœur to become the most visited attraction not only in Paris but the whole of France.
In the seven months since it reopened, it has welcomed 7 million visitors – yes, one million per month – and it’s on track to keep up that rate for the rest of 2025, meaning 12 million visitors will have crossed the threshold in just one year.
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Staggeringly, that works out to around 35,000-40,000 people per day, which comfortably surpasses its pre-fire stats of around 11 million people per year. For some context, the Sacré-Cœur welcomes around nine million, the Louvre 8.7 million, the Palace of Versailles 8.4 million and the Eiffel Tower 6.3 million.
It’s thought that unprecedented interest from Parisians is one reason why visitor numbers are on the up, and this is all while work is still ongoing on the restorations.
According to the Telegraph, the flying buttresses of the chevet, the presbytery and the north and south transept facades are yet to be complete, but the cathedral’s north and south towers will reopen in September, and work on the Place Jean-Paul-II (that tree-lined square in front of the cathedral) should be polished off in December.
More on visiting Paris
Notre Dame is not the only major Paris landmark that has undergone some significant changes recently – the same could be said for the Louvre. News of the world’s most-visited museum getting a huge overhaul was reported earlier this year, including a brand-new visitor entrance and a shiny new home for the Mona Lisa. However, it was also forced to close for a day in June due to a major staff strike against working conditions.
Need some advice on how to do Paris on a budget? Here are our favourite cheap places to stay and cheap places to eat. Oh, and you should try your chances in this mad competition to win a night’s stay at the Palais de Tokyo.
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