The great drone of the Strasbourg Cathedral rang for a quarter of an hour, Tuesday from 08:00 to 08:15, a "powerful signal" to mark the solidarity of the Alsatian capital in the aftermath of the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The drone of Strasbourg has already sounded
This bell, the "oldest bell in the church that has resisted wars and has not been melted", only sounds "in the major opportunities of the life of the Church and the world", said the Archbishop of Strasbourg, Mgr Luc Ravel. It had sounded on December 12, the day after the attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg that had killed five people and a dozen wounded.
>> Follow live on Europe 1 the evolution of the situation in the wake of the fire
Strasbourg Cathedral is the "second largest in France" behind Notre-Dame de Paris in terms of attendance with "just over two million visitors a year," said Bishop Ravel. Melted in 1427, the great drone, suspended in the belfry of the cathedral, measures 2.20 meters in diameter and weighs 8.5 tons. It originally sounded the knell, the bell of the dead, for the citizens of the city and the Sunday sermon, according to the Foundation of the Work Notre-Dame which preserves the cathedral of Strasbourg for 800 years.
An act of European solidarity
At noon, the bells of other European cathedrals should also ring for five minutes in solidarity with Notre Dame, said Alain Fontanel, deputy mayor of Strasbourg in charge of culture. In Basel, Regensburg or Aachen, 17 cathedrals are partners of the Strasbourg cathedral within the network of cathedral builders.
"It is both an act of solidarity in the face of the pain that we all share and a way of projecting ourselves with the builders of cathedrals, stonemason workshops, on the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is the beginning of a network of solidarity that will serve the Parisian authorities ", according to Alain Fontanel. A meeting is also held Tuesday morning in Strasbourg to verify that "all the rules [affecting the safety of Strasbourg Cathedral] are well respected, which we are convinced," said Alain Fontanel.