My heart grieves for France

[HagarTheHorrible]

I’m British, so as a rule I don’t like the French ? but I feel devastated for their loss, it’s utterly tragic.

[DD_Arthur]

Been away for the weekend and just saw this on the news.  Truly tragic.

[Gambit21]

Stone doesn’t burn too well so I think she’ll recover. Second something like that transcends ownership by France.

 

Hope the windows survive 

[Leon_Portier]

Thats sad, fire damage is always horrible no matter the material.

[40plus]

Stone will survive but the loss of art and heritage will be profound. ☹️

[unreasonable]

From the look of it I doubt anything but the main stonework will survive having tons of molten lead roofing fall on it. It was said on one report, however, that a lot of the statues (and I hope other works) had been moved out before the maintenance work started.

 

Probably someone just dropping a fag end. Sad.

 

 

[Gambit21]

Yikes - sounds awful

[Rolling_Thunder]

Awful scenes. I've been there a few times, the architecture and history is global. Irreplaceable. So sad.

[Gambit21]

The photos are horrific.

Never been but studied it back in college.

Tragic beyond words - and again a loss for the world, not just France.

[Swing]

Yes not only for France...that's terrible...no words...

[Taxman]

Yes, very sad indeed..... 

[LuftManu]

What a great loss.. no words.

[sevenless]

My condolences to our French Friends. This is a national tragedy. I hope you can save/secure as much as possible of this great monument of 800 years old Christian architecture. My heart is bleeding ?

[unlikely_spider]

A horrible event. We don't have much of that type of architecture in the U.S., and certainly none that are 800 years old. I can only imagine how devastating it must feel to Parisians to lose such a treasure and piece of their national identity. It survived eight centuries, a revolution, and two world wars, only to burn down in 2019. Hopefully something can be salvaged, and/or rebuilt.

Edited April 15, 2019 by engrish_major

[PatrickAWlson]

Hoping there is some chance for recovery.  Looks awful.  Best wishes to our French friends.

[Thad]

Has it been verified and declared a 'accidental' fire? Just saying, it has been around for hundreds of years.

[unreasonable]

Not formally.  I will be very interested to see what the inquiry says, as there are already reports that cathedral staff have claimed that there was arson.

 

Quite a number of churches have been attacked in France in the last few years, so this is entirely plausible.

[Swing]

Renovations were underway on the central tower...and the firefighters think of an accident

[sevenless]

2 minutes ago, Thad said:

Has it been verified and declared a 'accidental' fire? Just saying, it has been around for hundreds of years.

Nothing official, but as far as I know from hundreds of years old oak wood (the roof wood was in parts from 13th to 16th century, more than 1.300 oaks were used for the roof) you need quite a lot of starting energy to get a fire going with this wood. A glimming cicarette will definitively not be enough. Time will tell. I am sure french authorities will find out how this desaster started.

[Thad]

13 minutes ago, sevenless said:

 I am sure french authorities will find out how this desaster started.

 

Agreed, but if it is discovered to be a cultural terrorist arson attack, would they say so? After all, It is or was a long standing Christian Cathedral.

 

I suppose I'm just the suspicious type. ?

[sevenless]

2 minutes ago, Thad said:

 

Agreed, but if it is discovered to be a cultural terrorist arson attack, would they say so? After all, It is or was a long standing Christian Cathedral.

 

I suppose I'm just the suspicious type. ?

 

Thad, that is hard to tell, but with all the terrorist attacs of the past by daesh that happened in France during the last 4 years (think of 13th Nov 2015 by example), I would say yes, if it isn´t kosher they will call it out.

[SCG_OpticFlow]

[Obelix]

Thanks guys

 

We had lost Reims cathedral (French kings church) during WW1 and Rouen cathedral during WW2, both were rebuilt, so I guess we could rebuild Notre Dame soon, it will take time and money.

 

Very sad indeed

[MarcoPegase44]

Many Thanks,

 

Last minute, the two towers of the cathedral and the bells would be saved.

 

Last minute of the state of the firefighters, the entire structure of the cathedral is saved.

This will make possible the restoration

Edited April 15, 2019 by MarcoPegase44

[Lusekofte]

Many churches are rebuilt last 500 years some 2 or 3 times being subject for lightening. 

Restoration in the area caused some artwork already was removed. They suspect this being a accident. And I think we all should believe that until something else say otherwise

[sniperton]

Cool down, and wait off the report. Old buildings with old timberwork have always been very prone to catch fire. Dozens of cathedrals have fallen victim to the fire up to now. Very sad, but sh.t happens from time to time. I'm art historian, so I know what's here at stake. Condolences to France, the Parisians, Roman Catholics generally, and those injured in the incident or shocked by it. The Old Lady survived, and that's the only thing that really matters here.

[SCG_OpticFlow]

2 hours ago, Obelix said:

Thanks guys

 

We had lost Reims cathedral (French kings church) during WW1 and Rouen cathedral during WW2, both were rebuilt, so I guess we could rebuild Notre Dame soon, it will take time and money.

 

Very sad indeed

 

Routine maintanence in 2019 is as dangerous as WW1 and WW2... How did we get to this point?

[sniperton]

5 minutes ago, OpticFlow said:

 

Routine maintanence in 2019 is as dangerous as WW1 and WW2... How did we get to this point?

All old buildings with a wooden roof are utterly dangerous. A magnificent late 19th-century palace here in Budapest burnt down because its wooden roof (similar to that of the Notre Dame) cought fire from the grinder used by the worker busy on some renovation work.

[=EXPEND=CG_Justin]

Regretfully, I never had the chance to make the journey to see it. Such a tragedy. 

Edited April 16, 2019 by =BAIT=CG_Justin