Live: Follow the grand reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral

The reopening this weekend of the Notre-Dame Cathedral will include a succession of ceremonies to breathe life back into the iconic cathedral and celebrate the recovery from its devastating fire in 2019.

High points will be the ritualised reopening of the cathedral's massive doors, the reawakening of its thunderous organ and the celebration of the first Mass. For both France and the Catholic Church, the televised and tightly scripted ceremonies will be an opportunity to display can-do resilience and global influence.

Saturday's proceedings are set to begin at 7pm local time with French President Emmanuel Macron due to deliver a speech from a tented area in front of the cathedral, which was devastated by a 2019 fire that destroyed its roof and spire.

Paris archbishop Laurent Ulrich will then lead the first full service inside Notre-Dame, symbolically reviving its refurbished 8,000-pipe organ and leading prayers and hymns under the new vaulted wooden roof of the 850-year-old Gothic monument. 

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The evening will wrap up with a televised concert featuring music by Chinese pianist Lang Lang, South African opera singer Pretty Yende and possibly US singer and fashion designer Pharrell Williams who is widely rumoured to perform. 

Britain's Prince William and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have joined a growing VIP guest list for the reopening ceremony on Saturday, which includes US president-elect Donald Trump. 

On Sunday, the first mass with 170 bishops and more than 100 Paris priests will take place at 10:30am local time, followed by a second service in the evening at 6:30pm which will be open to the public and be attended by Macron.

Around 2,500 tickets for the public mass were reserved within a few hours when they were made available on Tuesday via the cathedral's phone app.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)