Notre-Dame’s bells ring together for first time since massive fire

The bronze bells of the Notre-Dame Cathedral have not pealed together since 2019, when a furious blaze consumed the centuries-old landmark right before the eyes of horrified Parisians.

For Paris on Friday, they tolled once again.

The sound of the eight bells rang throughout the city for the first time in five years, a sign of the cathedral’s rebirth as it prepares to reopen to the public next month. A weekend of ceremonies starting Dec. 7 will celebrate the opening after an ambitious and expensive effort to rebuild the 860-year-old structure.

“It’s not perfect yet, but we will make it perfect,” Alexandre Gougeon, who was in charge of the reinstallation of 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. A symbol of France’s modern history will join them — three new bells, including one that was rung during the Paris Olympic Games, also have been installed.

Investigators still have not determined the cause of the fire that ravaged the cathedral in April 2019, although leading theories include an electrical short-circuit and a discarded cigarette. Thousands of Parisians watched aghast from the banks of the Seine as firefighters battled to contain the flames, which destroyed much of the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire but ultimately spared the cathedral’s main structure.

In the aftermath, President Emmanuel Macron vowed that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years, and more than $911 million in donations poured in within days.

Hundreds of people — architects, engineers, masons, metalworkers, carpenters and more — have labored to meet the five-year target. The work has included rebuilding the collapsed spire, making a new wooden attic and cleaning more than 450,000 square feet of stone surfaces that had been darkened by soot, dust and lead particles.

— The New York Times