After extensive cleaning and restoration work in the Manche department, the eight bells of the north bell tower of Notre-Dame de Paris arrived in Paris on Thursday 12 September, less than three months before the cathedral reopens.
“These bells are the voice of the cathedral, the ones that ring every day”“This is a great opportunity for us,” said Philippe Jost, owner of the restaurant and president of the public establishment Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, delighted when he arrived by truck at 11 a.m. “This projects us towards the rebirth of Notre-Dame”he added, among dozens of curious people who came to take photos of the bells.
They will be reassembled in the bell tower of the “the next two or three weeks,” and will undergo testing to be ready for reopening, according to Philippe Jost.
To allow for the restoration of the north tower damaged by the flames of the gigantic fire of 15 April 2019, these bells, bearing the names of personalities who have marked the life of the diocese and the Church, were removed in July 2023.
They have since been cleaned of lead dust, inspected and restored by the Normandy-based Cornille Havard foundry in La Mancha, which made them in 2013.
The reopening of the cathedral is scheduled for December 7
The eight bells, which must be blessed at noon by Mgram Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector-archpriest of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, believes that the heaviest “Gabriel” statue weighs between 4,162 tonnes and the lightest, named after Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris from 1981 to 2005, weighs 782 kg.
Cast in 2013 to mark the 850th anniversary of the cathedral, they are part of a set of twenty bells, including the two drones in the south tower.
After five years of colossal construction, involving 250 companies and hundreds of craftsmen, the cathedral will reopen on December 7. Work is still underway to complete the restoration of the building and allow the public to return to Notre-Dame, where around ten million people flocked each year before the fire.
