The bells on all Orthodox Christian churches in Belgrade, including the Saint Sava Temple, rang on Wednesday night in hommage to the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris which was gutted by a fire.
The bells were rung just before 07:00 pm for more than five minutes as a sign of support at about the same time that the bells in cathedrals across France were rung in hommage to Paris cathedral.
Historians have recalled over the past two days that the bells of Notre Dame de Paris were rung in 1389 when news reached the French capital that Serbian King Lazar was winning against Ottoman forces at the battle of Kosovo Polje.
The Serbian tabloid press published negative comments about the fire which gutted the cathedral, some of them even gloating and claiming that the fire was “God’s punishment” for the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. Those comments and stories were later removed from their web sites. The French ambassador in Belgrade said he was dismayed by some of the comments.
The fire on the roof of Notre Dame de Paris broke out on April 15, destroying the roof and toppling the steeple.
