• New bells with old sounds set to ring in Notre Dame's 850th anniversary

    Charles Platiau / Reuters

    A craftsman covers the cope of a bell mold made from clay, horse-dung and horse-hair, as he works to produce bronze bells ordered at the French foundry Cornille Havard in Villedieu-les-Poeles in Normandy on Oct. 17.

    Charles Platiau / Reuters

    Stephane Mouton cleans and inspects the bronze bell 'Maurice' after removing the mold at the French bell foundry Cornille Havard.

    Charles Platiau / Reuters

    Craftsman Stephane Mouton cleans and inspects the bronze bell 'Maurice' after removing the mold at the French bell foundry Cornille Havard.

    Charles Platiau / Reuters

    Craftsman Stephane Mouton looks at 'Maurice', a bronze bell which is lifted from the pit at the French bell foundry Cornille Havard.

    Charles Platiau / Reuters

    Bronze bells are seen in the courtyard of the French bell foundry Cornille Havard in Villedieu-les-Poeles in Normandy.

    French bell foundry Cornille Havard in Villedieu-les-Poeles in Normandy was chosen to design and cast eight replacement bronze bells for the north tower of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, set to be finished in time to ring for the 850th anniversary of the cathedral next year.

    The new bells will have the same weight and diameter as the ones from the 18th-century that were melted down and turned into cannons during the French Revolution. They will be designed to recreate the centuries old sound by using the same medieval forging methods.

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  • New Zealand's quake-hit cathedral to be demolished

    David Wethey / EPA

    Christchurch Catholic Cathedral shows extensively damaged after an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand in this file photo from Feb. 22, 2011.

    AP reports: Anglican church officials in New Zealand say an iconic cathedral in downtown Christchurch must be demolished because earthquakes damaged it beyond repair.

    ChristChurch Cathedral is the city's best-known building, but its climbable spire collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed many other downtown buildings. Officials had thought part of the building could be saved, but they said Friday that recent aftershocks caused even more damage.

  • Engineers inspect Washington National Cathedral

    By Rich Shulman

    These folks almost make engineering look like  . . . fun.

    AP reports:

    WASHINGTON — The same engineers who captivated tourists by rappelling down the Washington Monument are conducting a similar operation at the National Cathedral.

    Two members of the team began rappelling down a 234-foot tower at the front of the cathedral Monday afternoon. The engineers are looking for damage caused by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the nation's capital on Aug. 23.

    The cathedral also sustained damage during Hurricane Irene a few days later.

    Last week, stone masons removed two tons of stonework from a pinnacle of the cathedral that had been damaged. Three of the four pinnacles on the central tower, which date to 1963, were severely damaged in the earthquake.

    Previous PhotoBlog posts on the National Cathedral.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Katie Francis, a member of the Difficult Access Team from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, inspects a gargoyle while rappelling down one of the north tower on the west front of the National Cathedral while looking for damage from August's magnitude 5.8 earthquake and high winds from Hurricane Irene October 17 in Washington, DC. DAT members used cameras, cell phones and iPad computers to record places on the cathedral's west front where damage was apparent.


    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Katie Francis (L) and Emma Cardini, members of the Difficult Access Team from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, use rapelling ropes to scale down one of the towers on the west front of the National Cathedral while looking for damage from August's magnitude 5.8 earthquake and high winds from Hurricane Irene October 17 in Washington, DC.

    Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

    Members of the difficult access team of engineers Katie Francis, left, and Emma Cardini rappel down the facade of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Monday, Oct. 17.

  • Nikki Kahn / Pool via AP

    Against a foggy backdrop, Joe Alonso, left, head stone mason, and Andy Uhl, stone carver, oversee the removal of the damaged upper portions of the southeast grand pinnacle, weighing two tons, from the central tower of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Oct. 13. The Cathedral's central tower pinnacles were damaged by the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck the East Coast on August 23. The damaged portions of pinnacles are being removed to make the pinnacles and central tower stable until the stonework can be repaired and put back in place.

    Two tons of stone are removed as earthquake damage repairs begin at Washington National Cathedral

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    The cathedral plans to reopen on Nov. 12, as repair work continues.

    Full story.

    Website of the Washington National Cathedral.