Paris - Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, Apr 2019

[Cappuccino]

Indeed. It was started in 1160 and took 100 years of building before the magnificent rose windows were put in.

Someone else said upthread that those windows were diligently removed, piece by piece, during one of the wars to preserve them, and then carefully put back together again. Sad to think they'll have just melted away.

Its unspeakable.

There are also Roman ruins underneath that area of Paris which pre date the foundation of France as a country. Hopefully they at least will be safe.

 

[raja]

Such a tragedy. This was a place that must have offered many over the years solace and comfort inside.

 

[LadyL]

Notre Dame on fire seen from a French police drone

Liveuamap on Twitter

that is astounding and sobering

 

[FrostOwl]

For people that have visited that beautiful place, did anyone notice any inside fire sprinklers like hotels have in every room?

As it's 34 meters (110 feet) to the highest part of the inner roof, I don’t think there were any sprinklers in the roof.

 

[Keine Engel]

This shows how difficult it is for the firefighters

notre dame fire - Google Search

 

[Inthedetails]

Paris archbishop Michel Aupetit is inviting priests across France to ring the bells of their churches in a call for prayers for Notre Dame.

Aupetit is at the cathedral and will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron later Monday night.

Notre Dame cathedral on fire - follow live updates

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Watching BBC news

One firefighter seriously injured

Some parts of the stone structure appear to be have been saved

 

[Cappuccino]

A fire fighter has been seriously injured according to the BBC.

 

[Hatfield]

As it's 34 meters (110 feet) to the highest part of the inner roof, I don’t think there were any sprinklers in the roof.

Im not sure what type of prevention they may or may not have had but I do know prevention steps can be taken to help protect these historic buildings.

Here is an example of a mist type protection that a large old cathedral in NYC installed.

"St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the largest Neo-Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States and one of New York City’s most famous buildings"

"The HI-FOG® water mist fire protection system was chosen to avoid the water damage risk of a conventional sprinkler system. "Protecting irreplaceable assets in the heritage site, HI-FOG® offers fast control and fire suppression capabilities, while also minimizing the structural impact of the system’s installation in this historic building”, says Kate Monaghan from St. Patrick's Cathedral."

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, USA | Marioff.com

 

[they'll get you]

Officials say there’s nothing left.

It’s devastating the think the crown of thorns, artwork and 850 years of architecture is all gone.

 

[Cappuccino]

View attachment 179682

Officials say there’s nothing left.

It’s devastating the think the crown of thorns, artwork and 850 years of architecture is all gone.

They rescued some artwork before the fire took hold.

 

[JaneEyre]

My God, I’m in tears.

 

[MassGuy]

From the Wall Street Journal:

* Structure of Notre Dame Has Been Saved -- French Officials

* As Many Artworks as Possible Were Saved From the Fire -- Fire Chief

The Wall Street Journal on Twitter

 

[they'll get you]

Fire officials said they could not waterbomb as that amount of water would’ve collapsed the church.

 

[ZaZara]

Links to two previous terrorist attacks on Notre Dame cathedral:

Couple arrested after gas canisters found in car near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris | The Star
Sept 07 2016

Attack foiled at Notre Dame cathedral, Paris: Attacker shot outside Paris's Notre-Dame

France jails 'jihadist' woman (22) accused over foiled terror attack in Paris

ONE OF THREE women allegedly involved in a foiled plot in 2016 to blow up a car packed with gas canisters near the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was today sentenced to eight years in prison by a French court for earlier offences.

Ines Madani, 22, was sentenced following a three-day trial during which she was accused of encouraging would-be jihadists to go to Syria and participate in attacks against France between March 2015 and June 2016.

She used Telegram – an encrypted messaging app widely used by jihadists to communicate.

Judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez said that Madani was “recruited” by Oumar Diaw, also known as Abou Barrou, an influential jihadist of the Islamic State group.

She used different pseudonyms on social networks, pretending for example to be Abu Souleymane, a jihadist returned from Raqa to carry out attacks in France.

“You had some autonomy in the management of your personality…. Your determination marks your dangerousness,” Prevost-Desprez said.

Madani’s lawyer, Laurent Pasquet-Marinacce, said her client, aged 18 at the time, was “a girl in search of recognition and love”.

“This (the sentence) is an acceptable decision,” she said.

Madani’s trial for trying to set fire to the car filled with six gas cylinders near Notre Dame will begin on 23 September.

 

[Keine Engel]

6m ago

Main structure "saved and preserved"

Notre-Dame’s main structure has been “saved and preserved”, a Paris fire official has announced.

“We can consider that the two towers of the north belfry Notre-Dame have been saved,” he tells BFMTV. “The structure of Our Lady is saved as a whole.”

Notre Dame fire: saving cathedral 'not certain' say French authorities – live news

 

[otto]

Paris prosecutors have started an inquiry into the cause of the fire.

 

[claudianunes]

That drone picture makes me think that everything inside is far gone. I think we only have the stone walls at this point. I can't believe this is actually happening, like this is actual real life. I am so sad.

 

[they'll get you]

Breaking from Channel9

Fire officials say the structure is intact and has been saved from total destruction.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Some interesting facts about Notre Dame:

• It was heavilyy damaged during the French Revolution with many of the statues destroyed along with the bells which were melted down to make canon balls.
• The building's spire, which stood at 90 metres tall, reportedly weighs in at 750 tonnes. The spire is where the fire reportedly began.
• The cathedral is known as 'the Forest' because of the many wooden beams that have been used in its construction, including 1,300 oak trees.
• The bells of Notre Dame are among the most famous in Europe. Called Marie, Emmanuel, Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoît-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie. The largest weighs over 13 tonnes.
• More than 13 million people reportedly visit the cathedral every year. That's about 30,000 per day
• The cathedral has a number of bee hives in its roof, introduced in a bid to improve the building's biodiversity. (It is believed the honey produced is given to the poor)
• The Notre-Dame organ involves almost 8000 pipes (some dating back to the 18th century) played with five keyboards, making it the biggest pipe organ in France
• There was a rooster on top of the spire which was not a purely decorative bird. In 1935, three tiny relics—an alleged piece of the Crown of Thorns and some bits of Saint Denis and Saint Genevieve were secured inside the metal bird’s body. The idea, the story goes, was to create a sort of spiritual lightning rod to protect the parishioners within.

Why is Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris so iconic?
13 Facts About Notre-Dame Cathedral