*Location:

   Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
   Ile de la Cité
   Paris (IVe), France
   LL: N 48.85316, E 2.34900

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Contact:

   Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame
   Place Jean-Paul II
   75004 Paris
   T: (01)42 34 56 10
   E: (Webform) www.notredameparis.fr

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Eight new bells in south tower, cast by
   Cornille-Havard in 2012, replace
   four swinging bells from 1856 there;
   new light bourdon "Marie" (6 tons)
   in north tower (by Eijsbouts, 2012)
   joins 1685 heavy bourdon "Emmanuel"
   (13271 kg) which remains; thus the
   pre-Revolutionary configuration is
   restored.  Also 3 clock bells in central
   spire and 3 more (disused) within
   the church, all from 1867.
   Notes: G#,A#,B,C#,D#,F,F#,G#,A#
   2024: Cornille-Havard to add 3 more
   bells, including 2024 Olympic bell.

*Technical data:

   Motor-swung peal of 10 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell (excluding sub-bourdon) is G# in the bass octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range: (F#)G#A#  /    NONE  
   The arrangement of tones and/or semitones
     is non-standard; see Remarks above.
   The whole instrument was installed in 2013
     with bells made by Cornille-Havard  (except for 2)
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2013

The Cathedral Website has both French and English versions.
English page about the bells and clock, with photo of "Emmanuel".
Schedule of public access to the towers, with photo.
Long news and history article on the bells, past-present-future, including photos of molding the largest bell at Cornille-Havard.

News article (30 Aug 2024) about the bell used in the Paris Olympics this year (with a fine large photo of the building)

Video of 850th anniversary peal (Apr.2013; 9:48); bells ring in starting with highest; the video includes a couple of stills of the 2 great bourdons, but does not show them swinging until nearly half way through.

The Wikimedia Commons has a separate category for the great bell "Marie", with 27 photos and 3 audio clips

Photos of the building

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Cornille-Havard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all French chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all French chimes by pitch of largest bell.
Ranking among all French chimes by year of completion.

Where the bass bell of this peal ranks among all great bells in Europe (with additional details).
Where the second bell of this peal ranks among all great bells in Europe

Index to all tower bell instruments in France/Paris.

   This page was built from the database on  8-Sep-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2024/09/04
   and on technical data last updated on 2020/05/08