Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, whose historic bells fell silent after a devastating fire in 2019, will soon sound again with a fresh echo.
Three new bells were delivered to the Gothic landmark on Thursday, including the one used at the Stade de France during this year’s Paris Olympics.
The Olympic bell, donated by the Paris 2024 organising committee, will be installed along with two smaller bells, named Chiara and Carlos, above the altar where they will be rung during Mass, officials said.
Their arrival ahead of Notre Dame’s December 8 opening will mark a milestone in the painstaking restoration and modernisation of the 861-year-old cathedral, made famous around the world by Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
During the 2024 Games in Paris, the Olympic bell was rung by every track and field winner. It bears the inscription “Paris 2024” and the other two are decorated with a circular symbol combining an image of Notre Dame’s iconic rosary window and the monstrance, the religious vessel that takes centre stage in the cathedral’s altar.
The bells, made at the renowned Cornille Havard foundry in Villiers-le-Poelay, Normandy, embody France’s distinguished bell-making tradition. The bells will replace three bells that previously stood next to Notre Dame’s 19th-century spire, which collapsed during a fire that engulfed the cathedral’s rafters and roof.
Officials said the new bells will be placed elsewhere in the cathedral, where their return will add to the soundscape of Notre Dame’s daily life. They will join the eight historic bells from the cathedral’s north tower, which were reinstalled in September after being cleaned and repaired. These bells – Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoît-Joseph, Maurice and Jean-Marie – were originally cast in 2013 for Notre Dame’s 850th anniversary.
The bells survived the terrible fire
Notre Dame de Paris remains closed after a fire about four years ago. The catastrophe on the night of April 16, 2019 did not destroy the monument, but caused significant damage.
The cathedral’s two large bells remained intact in the south tower and were not damaged by the fire, officials added. More than 250 companies and hundreds of skilled craftsmen were involved in the reconstruction of Notre Dame.
The spire of the cathedral, built in the XIX century by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and the 100-metre high roof of the nave, which rested on a unique 300-tonne structure made of oak beams, built in the XII century, modified in the XVII and stood until the beginning of the XXI century without any serious damage, were irretrievably lost.
Thanks to the actions of French firefighters, the walls and stained glass windows were saved. The sculptures of saints surrounding the collapsed spire remained intact – they had been removed for restoration long before the fire.
