Eight bells known as the "voice" of Notre-Dame Cathedral have returned to Paris, as the Gothic church prepares to reopen following a devastating fire in 2019.
The eight bronze bells were temporarily removed from the cathedral in July 2023 to allow ongoing restoration work to go on unhindered.
They returned to the capital on Thursday and were blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral.
Cathedral Rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas said they were “a sign that the cathedral will again resonate, and that its voice will be heard again. A sign of the call to prayer, and a sign of coming together.”
The bells belong in the cathedral's northern belfry and will be reinstalled in the coming weeks, Philippe Jost, the head of the public body overseeing the project, told French news agency AFP.
The cathedral reopens to the public on 8 December.
Five years after devastating fire, race to rebuild Notre-Dame gains pace
Symbol of rebirth
The bells were cleaned and renovated in the Normandy foundry where they were first cast in 2013.
They're named after figures from the cathedral’s history, and vary in size.
"Gabriel", the heaviest, weighs more than 4 tonnes while tiny tot "Jean-Marie" is a dainty 782 kilos.
They mostly just needed "a good clean" to remove lead dust thrown off by the church's burning roof, Paul Bergamo, the head of the Cornille-Havard foundry, told Radio France.
"Marcel and Gabriel needed a bit more attention," he added, including freshening up their gold leaf.
A year after the fire: Notre-Dame, 'the soul of France', slumbers
The bells will be raised one by one and tested out, but won’t ring in full until the day of the reopening, said Jost, calling their arrival "a very beautiful symbol of the cathedral’s rebirth".
While construction on the cathedral began in the 12th century, the bronze bells damaged in the fire were cast in 2013 to mark the monument’s 850th anniversary, replacing older bells that had become discordant.
Notre-Dame has 20 bells in total, including two massive 13-tonne "bourdons" in the south tower, which are rung for major church events such as Easter, Christmas or the death or election of a pope.
(with newswires)
