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Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica unveils restored facade after a decade behind scaffolding, with a free concert today at 12:30 p.m.
After nearly ten years hidden behind scaffolding, Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica unveils its restored facade on Sunday, October 25, with a free musical celebration at 12:30 p.m.: more than 150 artists from the Société philharmonique du Nouveau Monde and organist Jean-Willy Kunz perform outdoors, then continue inside; the basilica opens to visitors at 2 p.m. that day. The full restoration is expected to cost $100 million, with about 20 percent done so far.
Why it matters
This Old Montreal landmark draws more than a million visitors a year, yet its facade has spent nearly a decade behind scaffolding; today's unveiling is only one milestone in a much longer restoration, with about four more years of exterior work and five to ten years inside, and the free concert is the public celebration of that milestone.
Full report
According to Tourisme Montreal and contemporaneous reports, the celebration, called Rediscover Notre-Dame, begins on Sunday, October 25 at 12:30 p.m.: more than 150 artists from the Société philharmonique du Nouveau Monde and organist Jean-Willy Kunz perform outdoors first, then continue inside the basilica; indoor seats are already reserved, and visitors without a reservation can enjoy the outdoor opening. The basilica's official visitor notice says it will open at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 25.
Michel Issa, executive director of the Fabrique de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Montréal, says the full restoration, interior and exterior, is expected to cost $100 million, with about 20 percent of the work completed so far; exterior work will take about four more years, a figure he himself calls optimistic, and interior restoration five to ten more years. The difficulty comes from the stone itself: some stones came from an old Mile End quarry and were laid in ways that let rainwater in, damaging interior painted decorations, which conservators are reattaching rather than repainting.
To fund the work, the basilica holds benefit concerts, runs the Le Firmament café and raises donations; its latest campaign lets donors sponsor a stone and leave a digital message on the facade through augmented reality, expected to be visible from early 2027.
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