Notre Dame bells ring out for first time since 2019 fire

By AFP
November 09, 2024
This photograph shows three new bells, including the bell used during the Paris Olympic Games, set to be placed into Paris Notre-Dame cathedral on November 7, 2024, one month before it is due to reopen and five years after a devastating fire. — AFP
This photograph shows three new bells, including the bell used during the Paris Olympic Games, set to be placed into Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral on November 7, 2024, one month before it is due to reopen and five years after a devastating fire. — AFP

PARIS: The bells of Notre Dame in Paris rang out together on Friday for the first time since a 2019 fire that devastated the historic cathedral, AFP reporters said.

The sound of the eight bells in Notre Dame´s northern belfry came a month before the cathedral is to reopen following five years of painstaking restoration work in the wake of the blaze.

“This is a beautiful, important and symbolic step,” said Philippe Jost, who runs the public body tasked with restoring the cathedral under challenging circumstances.

On the evening of April 19, 2019, Parisians and the world watched in horror as flames ravaged the world heritage landmark and then toppled its spire.

President Emmanuel Macron quickly set the ambitious goal to rebuild Notre Dame within five years and make it “even more beautiful” than before.

Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were mobilised for a restoration costing hundreds of millions of euros.

Shortly before 10:30 am (0930 GMT) on Friday, the bells sounded one by one until all eight chimed in harmony for about five minutes.