The bronze bells of Notre-Dame Cathedral have not rung together since 2019, when a ferocious fire devastated the centuries-old monument right in front of shocked Parisians. On Friday, they rang the bell for Paris again. The ring of eight bells resonated around the city for the first time in five years, signalling the cathedral’s rebirth as it prepares to reopen to the public next month. A weekend of celebrations beginning December 7 will commemorate the completion of an ambitious and costly endeavour to rebuild the 860-year-old edifice. “It’s not perfect yet, but we will make it perfect,” Alexandre Gougeon, who was in charge of reinstalling the bells, told Agence France-Presse. “This first test was a success.” The eight bells in the northern belfry, a key part of the cathedral’s collection of 21 bronze bells, had been cleaned before being replaced in the tower. Videos taken by AFP inside the cathedral show the bells swinging in the cathedral’s newly rebuilt northern belfry.

Home Customer Service Stay connected. Read today’s edition. Miami-Dade Favourites News Sports Politics Business Life and Entertainment Opinion Obituaries Video Featured Miami.com Detour Travel: Florida Keys News El Nuevo Herald Miami-Dade Favourites Guides Shopping/Reviews Deals and Offers Careers and Education Banking Legal Services Coupons Special Features Press Releases Sponsored Content Classifieds Place an Ad for Celebrations. Search Jobs, Legal Notices. Advertising 99 cents for two months. READ NOW WORLD Notre Dame’s bells ring together for the first time since the fire. BY ISABELLA KWAI, NYT NEWS SERVICE/SYNDICATE STORIES. UPDATED NOVEMBER 9, 2024 2:10 AM. On March 15, scaffolding and cranes surrounded the facade of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral is scheduled to reopen in December. Dmitry Kostyukov New York Times The bronze bells of the Notre-Dame Cathedral did not peal together.

In the aftermath, President Emmanuel Macron promised that the cathedral would be restored within five years, and France than 850 million euros in donations arrived within days.

To reach the five-year objective, hundreds of people worked on the building site, including architects, engineers, masons, metalworkers, carpenters, and others. The job involved repairing the fallen spire, constructing a new wooden attic, and cleaning over 450,000 square feet of stone surfaces that had become discoloured by smoke, dust, and lead particles. The cathedral, an example of medieval Gothic architecture, had come to symbolize France’s past. It was where Henry VI of England was crowned King of France in 1431, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor in 1804, and Charles de Gaulle led a Thanksgiving ceremony in 1944 following the Liberation of Paris during World War II. The dulcet peals of Notre-Dame’s bells accompanied portions of the history, commemorating

The dulcet tones of Notre-Dame’s bells accompanied some of that history, marking daily time for centuries of Parisians. Many of the bells, which have their own names, have been recast and reconstructed over time.

The largest of the bells, placed in the south tower, goes back to the 17th century and has rung during some of the most significant events in French history, including both World Wars.