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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

New set of tunes to chime in Notre Dame Cathedral

Exterior+view+of+the+Notre+Dame+Cathedral+in+Paris%2C+France.%0ABrianna+Radici+%2F+Design+Director
Exterior view of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Brianna Radici / Design Director

Bell casts ordered for the cathedral’s 850th birthday

Exterior view of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.Brianna Radici / Design Director
Exterior view of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.
Brianna Radici / Design Director

Paris–Upon the cathedral on Notre Dame’s 850th anniversary, nine new bells will replace the existing set, which went out of tune.

Notre Dame, “our lady” in French, began construction in 1163 and took around 90 years to build. The bells gained popularity through Victor Hugo’s classic novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” in which the bell ringer, ironically, was deaf.

The “old” bells were added in the 19th century to replace those from the 18th century, which were melted down during the French Revolution. The replacements were widely said to be France’s most out-of-tune church bells.

The bells weigh, in total, 23 tons. They are named after distinguished Catholics such as Jean-Marie Lustiger, the late bishop and cardinal of Paris, and after saints, such as the Archangel Gabriel.

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Mary, the largest and loudest of them all, weighs 6.5 tons.

Each bell is inscribed with the latin phrase “Via viatores quaerit,” which means “I am the path looking for travelers.”

Patrick Jacquin, rector at Notre Dame Cathedral, said in an NBC World News report, “With these bells, we’re looking back at our history and ahead to our future.”

“I think they look fantastic. They’re very beautiful and the casts are very different, one to another…so I’m dying to hear how they sound,” a tourist said in the same report.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch Cardinal Andre Armand Vingt-Trois bless eight of the nine bells, which are on public display until Feb. 25.

Through private donations totaling nearly $2 million, the new bells will be exactly what was imagined in the Middle Ages. Eight of the new bells were created in a foundry in Villedieu-les-Poeles, a town in Normandy.

The ninth, Mary, was cast in the Netherlands, financed by the foundation of Liliane Bettencourt, a principal shareholder of L’Oreal.

The renowned cathedral in Paris attracts 20 million visitors annually, tourists and Catholics alike.

 

BELLS FAST FACTS:

  • The Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, ordered the construction of Notre Dame in 1160.
  • The current bells were added during the 19th century to replace the melted bells from the French Revolution.
  • Each bell is inscribed with the latin phrase for “I am the path looking for travelers.”
  • The bells were funded through private donations, totaling almost $2 million.
  • The ninth bell, named Mary, was cast in the Netherlands, financed by the foundation of Liliane Bettencourt, a principal shareholder of L’Oreal.

 

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