Madeleine Burgess /The Conversation Ahead of the reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, eight of the cathedral’s church bells were renovated and blessed before their re-installation in the north tower. Philippe Jost, who has overseen the cathedral’s restoration following the devastating fire in 2019, described the re-installation of the bells as a “beautiful, important and symbolic step.” He called them the “voice of the cathedral.” The sound of church bells has filled European landscapes for more than 800 years . And over that time, many cathedral fires have required a reinstallation of the bells. In 1320, for example, the belltower of Bangor Cathedral in north Wales burnt down. As a result, its bishop requested a pardon from the yearly church
