A ringing that had been missing from the Paris sky. This Friday morning, the eight bells of the north belfry of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, which is preparing to reopen its doors during the weekend of December 7 and 8, rang out around 10:30 a.m., activated by motors over five years after the fire which ravaged the building, noted AFP.
“We all felt an intense emotion, it’s a voice that extends, that brings us together. It is November 8 and Our Lady tells us “I am here, I am waiting for you”,” Father Guillaume Normand, vice-rector of the cathedral, told the press agency.
“It’s a beautiful, important, symbolic step,” greeted Philippe Jost, head of the public establishment responsible for the restoration of the cathedral, a jewel of Gothic art, who announced in our columns this Friday the The imminence of these first attempts at setting the bells in flight. These “will ring at times” over the coming month, “to check that everything is working”. One more step towards the reopening of the emblematic place of worship.
“Everything is not perfect yet. We are going to resolve this perfectly but this first attempt is conclusive,” declared, moved, Alexandre Gougeon, from the Gougeon company, project manager for the refitting of the bells for the ATC group, welcoming “a great outcome”. Individual bell-by-bell tests were conducted on Thursday.
Dusted and restored
This sound signal marks a further step in the resurrection of one of the largest cathedrals in the West, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the most visited monuments in Europe. During the fire of April 15, 2019, the flames reached part of the north belfry of the building, which had to be restored. To do this, the eight bells housed in this tower were carefully removed, cleaned of lead dust and restored in a Norman foundry before returning to their original setting.
Video“Gabriel”, “Marcel”… The return of the eight bells of Notre-Dame three months before its reopening
The eight bells – Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève, Denis, Marcel, Étienne, Benoît-Joseph, Maurice and Jean-Marie, their little names taken from personalities who have marked the life of the diocese and the Church – returned to their cathedral in September last, after a major cleaning and renovation work. Blessed before their return to office, they are “the sign of the gathering of believers but also of non-believers”, declared the rector archpriest of the cathedral, Mgr Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, at the time of their blessing.
In just a few days, on November 15, another strong and symbolic moment was announced by the diocese. This time, it will be the statue of the Virgin of the Pillar to make its grand return to the cathedral.
