Emmanuel, the largest of Notre Dame’s ten bells, has accompanied every major historical event in France’s history since the 15th century.
Recast in 1681 upon the request of King Louis XIV, who gave it its name, the bell has rung to mark the end of conflicts including both world wars.
President Macron and his wife, Brigitte, visited before the fire fully took hold
PHILIPPE WOJAZER/EPA
It is often rung at times of sorrow and drama, such as the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. If the huge fire that destroyed much of the cathedral had happened to any other building, it would have been ringing yesterday.
The cathedral shot to fame after the publication of the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, though at the time, still ravaged from the French Revolution,