The great bell of Notre Dame rang out in a message of hope last night on the first anniversary of the fire that nearly destroyed the 850-year-old cathedral. 

Parisians who watched

The great bell of Notre Dame rang out in a message of hope last night on the first anniversary of the fire that nearly destroyed the 850-year-old cathedral. 

Parisians who watched in horror as flames engulfed the church on April 15, 2019 were applauding last night as the bell rang out to coincide with a tribute to medics battling coronavirus.  

President Emmanuel Macron hailed the survival of Notre Dame as a 'symbol of the resilience of our people' and their 'capacity to overcome hardships'. 

However, Macron's pledge to restore the cathedral in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics has been thrown into doubt by the pandemic, which has brought a halt to recovery work.    

Parisians stand on a road on the banks of the Seine and listen as the great bell of Notre Dame rings out last night, one year exactly after the 850-year-old landmark was nearly destroyed by fire

The great bell of Notre Dame is rung last night by people wearing hazmat suits and masks - to protect them from lead, not coronavirus - one year on from the blaze in Paris 

Before and after: The spire of Notre Dame is engulfed by flames (top image) during the nightmarish fire on April 15, 2019 which nearly destroyed the church. The bottom image shows the same view on Monday this week 

Extensive repair work to rebuild much of the building's structure is on hold for the foreseeable future after lockdown measures stopped workers from accessing the site

The great bell had sounded just once since April 15 last year, when the blaze broke out and consumed the spire and the roof. 

Officials say the fire came within 30 minutes of razing one of the Western world's most treasured pieces of heritage to the ground. 

Last night's bell-ringers were wearing hazmat suits and masks last night to shield themselves from the huge quantities of toxic lead which were dispersed during the fire. 

High in the southern belfry, the three bell-ringers took turns to heave on a rope and swing the bell's clapper for five minutes. 

The bell sounded at 8pm, just as Parisians came out onto their balconies and leaned from windows to applaud the medics and carers battling the health crisis.   

The outbreak has killed more than 17,000 people in France.

'The restoration of Notre Dame.. is a symbol of the resilience of our people, of their capacity to overcome hardships, and to recover,' President Emmanuel Macron said. 

People listen to the great bell of Notre Dame ringing out on the banks of the Seine last night, one year after the fire 

A group of Parisians - some of them wearing masks because of coronavirus - take pictures on their phones as they listen to the symbolic bell-ringing from Notre Dame 

Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame cathedral make their way towards the steeple one year ago on Wednesday 

Crowds flock on the bank (top) and look on in horror as flames ravage their way through Notre Dame. Bottom, the deserted work site shows the fragile structure as it awaits repair work

Notre Dame's cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet, Auxiliary Bishop of Paris Denis Jachiet and Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit attend a meditation ceremony in front of the holy crown of thorns to celebrate Good Friday in a secured part of the cathedral

Notre Dame rector Patrick Chauvet repositions the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ, after a meditation ceremony celebrating Good Friday

The above picture shows rubble and damage during preliminary work in the Cathedral conducted in May 2019

Prosecutors said the cause of the fire was still unclear. Above, parts of destroyed scaffolding sit blackened and charred with soot, as pictured in July 2019

Above, parts of a destroyed rib vault and scaffolding can be seen in July 2019, three months after the fire ravaged the cathedral

Twelve months ago, Parisians were lining the banks of the Seine, singing hymns and lighting candles as they watched the fire rage into the night before it was eventually extinguished. 

Investigators have still not determined the cause of the fire though prosecutors say they suspect faulty electrical wiring or a poorly extinguished cigarette was at fault. The roof was under renovation at the time. 

Pope Francis spoke at the time of the sadness he felt for the French people mourning the devastation of Notre Dame. 

One such person was local artist Frederique Galey-Jacob who on Wednesday returned to the cathedral to sketch the scene.

'It allowed me to express my feelings, to fight against the feeling of powerlessness that we felt as it burned,' Galey-Jacob said. 'It´s a need, I don´t know how to explain it.'

As the bell stopped tolling, cheering erupted from surrounding streets.

Work to repair Notre Dame will resume once France's lockdown measures have been lifted. Above, one worker assesses the mounds of debris that need clearing 

Despite extensive damage to the exterior of the building, many of its artefacts remained unscathed. Above, experts prepare to lift a statue out from within

Scaffolding at Notre Dame cathedral on Good Friday on April 10 in Paris. Easter celebrations took place in an unprecedented format in Paris at the time of the coronavirus crisis and the first anniversary of the fire of Notre Dame cathedral

Workers survey the extensive damage caused by the fire, though current lockdown measures mean the work site is devoid of employees tasked with the mammoth job of restoring the UNESCO heritage site

Macron reiterated a promise to rebuild Notre Dame within five years, though the works to ensure the cathedral is structurally sound are running months behind schedule, delayed first by winter storms and now by the pandemic.

'Our objective is to prepare the cathedral for mass on April 16, 2024,' said Jean-Louis Georgelin, the retired army general leading the restoration project.

'Of course, that doesn't mean everything will be finished. 

The 60 to 70 workers who are normally on site have not yet removed the tangled web of metal scaffolding tubes that fused together in the inferno. Officials said the roof cannot be rebuilt in its original form.

Until this the metal scaffolding tubes are removed, workers cannot install a more durable temporary roof to protect the church's priceless artworks from rain.    

The heart and transept at Notre Dame is pictured top in June 2018 and, bottom, the same view one day after a fire devastated the cathedral

Much of the debris has been removed from the nave, which allowed Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit to hold a small Good Friday ceremony in the church last week. 

The cathedral's renowned organ must also be removed to have its nearly 8,000 pipes cleaned from a layer of lead dust deposited by the melting of the roof and spire. 

Countless other cleaning and restoration operations await, and the project's chief architect Philippe Villeneuve has warned that new challenges could arise as the work progresses. 

The southern belfry where the 13-tonne bell - cast in 1681 and the second biggest in France - is housed, is structurally undamaged. The three celebrated 'rose windows' also survived against the odds. 

It is traditionally rung for major religious celebrations, papal visits and presidential funerals, and has sounded once since the fire, in September 2019, in tribute to former President Jacques Chirac who died that month.  

Flames and smoke rise from the blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that destroyed its spire and its roof, but spared its twin medieval bell towers

An aerial shot of the fire damage just days after the fire erupted reveals the extend of the damage. Close to $1 billion has been pledged worldwide to fund the cost of repairs

France's ultra-rich have pledged huge donations to help restore the cathedral, including billionaires Bernard Arnault and Francois-Henri Pinault among the biggest donors

Above, work begins on the roof of the site in September 2019, four months after the devastating blaze. Officials have still yet to decide whether to rebuild the cathedral exactly as it was using traditional techniques and materials, or adopt a more modern approach to its restoration

Photos from within Notre  Dame show the one of the famous northern Rose windows amid the debris. Despite damage, all three of the church's iconic stained-glassed windows survived the blaze

A combination of two pictures shows (top) people attending a mass in June 2018, a stark comparison to the devastation pictured (bottom) a day after the fire tore through the cathedral 

Notre Dame's famed organ also survived the blazed and is pictured above during preliminary work in July 2019. The will need to be removed in order for its nearly 8,000 pipes to be cleaned from a layer of lead dust deposited by the melting of the roof and spire