Paris: Old bells of Notre Dame Cathedral saved

A set of old bells at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, has been saved from the foundry and given a new home. In early 2012, as part of a €2 million project, the four old bells in the north tower had been deemed unsatisfactory and removed. The plan originally was to melt them down and recast new bells from the material. However, a legal challenge resulted in the bells being saved in extremis at the foundry.

The bells have a particular place in the hearts of Parisians. On the night of 24 August 1944, as the Île de la Cité was taken by an advance column of French and Allied armoured troops and elements of the Resistance, it was their tolling of the Emmanuel that announced to the city that its liberation was under way.

The old bells, Angélique-Françoise, Antoinette-Charlotte, Hyacinthe-Jeanne, Denise-David, made by the foundry Guillaume and Besson in Angers, were originally installed in 1856. They are now on display in the Rue du Cloitre next to Notre Dame.

Nine new bells are now in place in the North and South towers, in addition to the bourdon Emmanuel. The bourdon Mary is placed in the North tower, and Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève Denis Marcel, Stephen, Benedict Joseph, Maurice and Jean-Marie in the South tower.