On Friday, the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral rang out in Paris for the first time since a 2019 fire that threatened to destroy the landmark.
At the time of the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the 861-year-old iconic structure within five years.
“The promise we made five years ago was that we would rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral together,” President Macron said on X Friday. “Today, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of so many of you, that bell will finally ring.”
A video attached to Macron’s post showed a section of Notre Dame Cathedral’s bell being installed and being rung.
Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled to reopen in a month, with ceremonies and celebrations beginning on December 7th.
The landmark also has three new bells, one of which will be rung at the Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Olympics and is inscribed with “Paris 2024.” The other two bells, Chiara and Carlos, are smaller and were installed on Thursday alongside the Olympic bell.
Notre Dame Cathedral has a total of 21 bells, each named after an important figure in the church.
Notre-Dame Cathedral’s bell has been under cleaning since April 15, 2019, when a fire engulfed the roof and spire.
The rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral involved the collaboration of skilled craftsmen from around the world, as well as the creation of on-site construction that matches that used by the first workers who built the cathedral centuries ago. The use of tools was required.
It also required 2,000 oak trees from forests across Europe that were dried for 12 to 19 months before being used for reconstruction.
This ambitious project is estimated to cost $760 million. 340,000 donors from more than 150 countries have contributed more than $900 million to the effort, according to the Reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris, a public organization responsible for preserving and restoring the cathedral.
