The bells of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris rang this Friday morning for the first time since the fire that devastated the historic monument in April 2019. The sound was heard about a month after its official reopening.
"It's a beautiful, important and symbolic step", declared Philippe Jost, responsible for the cathedral's restoration work, quoted by the French press.
The eight bells began to ring one by one until they all rang in harmony, just before 10:30 am local (9:30 am in Lisbon). "It's not perfect yet, but we're going to make it perfect," said Alexandre Gougeon, responsible for reinstalling the bells, adding that "this first test was a success."
The heaviest bell, called 'Gabriel', weighs more than four tons, while the lightest, 'Jean-Marie', weighs 800 kilograms.
It should be emphasized that three new bells arrived at the cathedral on Thursday, including one that was used at the Stade de France during this year's Paris Olympics.
It is worth remembering that it was on April 15, 2019 that a fire devastated the Parisian cathedral, a symbol of Christianity and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which welcomed 12 million visitors a year, with the flames causing the tower and part of the roof to collapse .
Under the leadership of Philippe Jost, around 250 companies and hundreds of artisans, architects and professionals worked on the restoration to allow the reopening of the masterpiece of Gothic art, which is scheduled for the weekend of December 7th and 8th.
