Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution, because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year's fire.
So its exiled clergy, choir and congregation are celebrating the holiday in another Gothic church next to the Louvre Museum instead.
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Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution, because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year's fire.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services will be held in the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, once used for French royalty. Notre Dame's rector, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, will celebrate Mass there Wednesday for Notre Dame's faithful, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.
It kept going during two world wars, and Nazi occupation. Soldiers guarded its Christmas Mass in 2015, weeks after France's deadliest-ever terror attacks.
Notre Dame cathedral is pictured in Paris, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019. (AP PhotoKamil Zihnioglu)
Notre Dame cathedral is pictured with a slow shutter speed exposure in Paris, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019. (AP PhotoKamil Zihnioglu)
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, members of the Notre Dame cathedral choir rehearse at the Saint Sulpice church in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral choir's director Henri Chalet directs the Notre Dame choir during a rehearsal at the Saint Sulpice church in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
In this photo taken on Tuesday Dec. 3, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet talks to the Associated Press, in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoThibault Camus)
The accidental April blaze consumed the medieval monument's roof and collapsed its spire, and reconstruction is expected to take several years. Officials say the structure is too fragile to let visitors inside, and there's still a risk of poisoning from the tons of lead dust released with the flames.
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, a member of Notre Dame cathedral choir sings during a rehearsal at the Saint Sulpice church in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services will be held in the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, once used for French royalty. Notre Dame's rector, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, will celebrate Mass there Wednesday for Notre Dame's faithful, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.
A wooden liturgical platform was constructed in the Saint-Germain church to resemble Notre Dame’s own. The cathedral’s iconic 14th century sculpture “The Virgin of Paris,” which survived the fire, is also on display.
The world-renowned cathedral has seen plenty of upheaval since its first stone was laid in 1163. It halted services after revolutionaries overthrew the monarchy and declared Notre Dame “a temple of reason,” but resumed religious activities under Napoleon in 1803, according to cathedral officials.
FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 9, 2019 file photo, the Notre Dame cathedral is pictured in Paris. General Jean-Louis Georgelin who is to oversee reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral, devastated by fire in April, got a public reprimand for advising the chief architect for France’s historic monuments to “shut his mouth.” (AP PhotoThibault Camus, File)
It kept going during two world wars, and Nazi occupation. Soldiers guarded its Christmas Mass in 2015, weeks after France's deadliest-ever terror attacks.
Today, Notre Dame's twin towers still look over the Ile de la Cite island at the heart of Paris, attracting tourists taking selfies along the surrounding quays. But this holiday season, its facade is shielded by scaffolding instead of the huge Christmas tree that normally graces its esplanade.
This photo taken on Monday Dec. 16, 2019 shows Notre Dame Cathedral lit up at night, in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
Notre Dame cathedral is pictured in Paris, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019. (AP PhotoKamil Zihnioglu)
Notre Dame cathedral is pictured with a slow shutter speed exposure in Paris, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019. (AP PhotoKamil Zihnioglu)
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, members of the Notre Dame cathedral choir rehearse at the Saint Sulpice church in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral choir's director Henri Chalet directs the Notre Dame choir during a rehearsal at the Saint Sulpice church in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoMichel Euler)
In this photo taken on Tuesday Dec. 3, 2019, Notre Dame cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet talks to the Associated Press, in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, in Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral kept holding services during two world wars as a beacon of hope amid bloodshed and fear. It took a fire in peacetime to finally stop Notre Dame from celebrating Christmas Mass for the first time in more than two centuries. (AP PhotoThibault Camus)