8 bells return to belfry of Notre Dame in Paris

Certainly one of eight bells, referred to as “Marcel,” of the north belfry of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is lifted following its arrival in entrance of the cathedral Paris on September 12, 2024. – From “Gabriel,” weighing over 4 tonnes (4.41 tons), to the smaller “Jean-Marie,” named in tribute to Cardinal Lustiger: on September 12, Notre-Dame de Paris welcomes again the eight bells in its northern belfry, lower than three months earlier than the cathedral reopens. These eight bells, bearing the names of personalities who’ve marked the lifetime of the diocese and the Church, had been eliminated in July 2023 to permit the restoration of the north tower, which was affected by the flames of the enormous hearth on April 15, 2019. (Photograph by Ed JONES / Agence France-Presse)

PARIS, France — Eight bells, one weighing over 4 tonnes (4.41 tons), had been returned to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris Thursday, simply months earlier than it is because of reopen 5 years after a devastating hearth.

“These bells are the voice of the cathedral, those that ring daily,” mentioned Philippe Jost, head of the Rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris group.

The bells’ arrival “lets us stay up for the rebirth of Notre Dame” on December 7, he added, talking amongst dozens of onlookers who had come to snap photos of the supply.

Groups repairing harm from the April 15, 2019 blaze needed to take away the bells — from the biggest, “Gabriel”, to the smallest, “Jean-Marie” — from Notre Dame’s north tower final July to finish their work.

READ: Worldwide sorrow as hearth ravages Notre-Dame in Paris

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The bells themselves have been cleaned of lead mud thrown off by the church’s burning roof and restored on the foundry that first forged them in Normandy in northern France earlier than their supply by truck again to Paris.

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Notre Dame rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas was to bless the peal of eight bells, every named after a major determine from the cathedral’s historical past, in a while Thursday.

The bells will probably be restored to their place within the belfry in “the following two or three weeks” and examined earlier than the reopening, Jost mentioned.

READ: Notre-Dame cathedral seeks more cash for inside repairs

Heavyweight “Gabriel” weighs greater than 4.1 tonnes (4.52 tons), whereas the lightest, “Jean-Marie”, clocks in at a dainty 782 kilograms (1,724 kilos).

Notre Dame has 20 bells in whole, together with two huge “bourdons” — the biggest weighing 13 tonnes (14.33 tons) – producing the bottom notes that hold within the south tower, that are rung for main Church occasions akin to Easter, Christmas or the dying or election of a Pope.

First accomplished in 1345 after nearly two centuries of building, the cathedral is about to reopen on December 7 after an enormous restoration effort that’s nonetheless beneath manner.

Round 10 million individuals per yr visited the church earlier than the fireplace.