Thousands watch iconic Notre Dame cathedral burn in the heart of Paris: ‘Everything is burning’
A golden symbol of hope has surfaced out of the wreckage of Notre Dame, but the damage could take decades to repair.
Surfacing like a golden symbol of hope, Notre Dame’s altar cross has emerged shining from the wreckage of yesterday’s devastating fire.
Parisians and people around the world watched in horror on Monday evening as a huge fire ripped through the 850-year-old gothic cathedral, causing its spire and part of the vaulted roof to collapse and triggering a scramble to save its precious relics and artworks.
As pictures of the damage begin to circulate, billionaires and local governments pledged nearly 500 million euros ($790m) to help restore the French icon.
However, experts are now warning it could take decades to rebuild.
Asked how long the restoration could take, Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral, which recently underwent a three-year facelift, said: “I’d say decades.”
“The damage will be significant. But we are lucky in France to still have a network of excellent heritage restoration companies, whether small-time artisans or bigger groups,” he told AFP.
Mr Fischer said the ability to rebuild the colossal cathedral in a manner that respects its original form and character would depend on the plans, diagrams and other materials available to the architects.
They would need “a maximum of historical data or more recent data gathered with modern technology such as 3D scans” of the kind used in the restoration of the Strasbourg cathedral, he said.
TWITTER PICTURE OF CATHERDAL GOES VIRAL
An hour before a devastating fire ripped through the Notre Dame Cathedral, a father and daughter were captured happily playing in front of the historic monument in a photograph that has since gone viral.
The photo was taken before the sun set and the blaze and its bright orange fire lit up the Parisian sky.
Brooke Windsor said she took the picture of a father and his daughter enjoying the 850-year-old landmark, visited by up to 14 million tourists every year.
“I almost went up to the dad and asked if he wanted it,” she said. “Now I wish I had. Twitter if you have any magic, help him find this.”
Twitter users, looking for a light moment in the Notre Dame tragedy, quickly responded.
The tweet has been retweeted more than 35,000 times and liked by more than 68,000 people.
“This is going to become THAT photo,” Michelle Bhasin said.
“So sad to see the building looking serene and safe in the sun,” Theodora Wayte wrote. “Just before this dreadful disaster.”
The father is yet to be identified.
A raging fire engulfed the roof of the iconic cathedral and toppled its spire as thousands of people watched on in horror from the streets below just after 6.30pm Paris time.
More than 500 firefighters worked to finally extinguish the blaze after it burned for more than six hours, devouring the 12th century wooden frame and causing more than two thirds of the cathedral’s roof to collapse.
NOTRE DAME’S BIGGEST DRAWS WERE ALSO ITS DOWNFALL
Some of the main reasons about 14 million people flock to Notre Dame every year could also be the reason the cathedral burned so quickly, experts claim.
Experts say it could be the combination of a structure that’s more than 850 years old, built with heavy timber construction and soaring open spaces, and lacking sophisticated fire-protection systems that left firefighters with devastatingly few options.
“Very often when you’re confronted with something like this, there’s not much you can do,” John Jay College fire science professor Glenn Corbett told AP.
Fire hoses looked overmatched — more like gardening equipment than firefighting apparatus — as flames raged across the cathedral’s wooden roof and burned bright orange for hours.
Some of the factors that made Notre Dame a must-see for visitors to Paris — its age, sweeping size and French Gothic design featuring masonry walls and tree trunk-sized wooden beams — also made it a tinderbox and a difficult place to fight a fire, Fire Administrator G. Keith Bryant said.
With a building like that, it’s nearly impossible for firefighters to attack a fire from within. Instead, they have to be more defensive “and try to control the fire from the exterior,” Mr Bryant said, a former fire chief in Oklahoma and past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
“When a fire gets that well involved it’s very difficult to put enough water on it to cool it to bring it under control.”
And while there’s a lot of water right next door at the Seine River, getting it to the right place is the problem, he said.
“There are just not enough resources in terms of fire apparatus, hoses to get that much water on a fire that’s that large.”
Because of narrower streets, which make it difficult to manoeuvre large ladder fire trucks, European fire departments don’t tend to have as large of ladders as they do in the United States, Mr Bryant said.
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MILLIONS ALREADY PLEDGED FOR NOTRE DAME FIX
The only thing left burning inside the cathedral is the gaping hole left where Notre Dame’s iconic spire once stood.
Sparks were falling to the ground late Monday night giving the cathedral an eerie, red glow.
Despite the devastating impact, millions of dollars have already been promised to return Notre Dame to its former glory.
French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, married to actress Salma Hayek, has pledged 100 million euros ($A157 million) towards the rebuilding of Notre Dame.
In a statement sent to AFP the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards “the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame” would be paid by the Pinault family’s investment firm Artemis.
French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the cathedral.
“We will rebuild Notre Dame because it is what the French expect,” he said, describing Notre Dame as “the epicentre of our life” and the cathedral of “all the French”, whether religious or not.
The president said he would seek international help to restore the cathedral.
“The worst has been avoided although the battle is not yet totally won,” the president said, adding that he would launch a national funding campaign on Tuesday and call on the world’s “greatest talents” to help rebuild the monument.
“I’m telling you all tonight — we will rebuild this cathedral together. This is probably part of the French destiny. And we will do it in the next years. Starting tomorrow, a national donation scheme will be started that will extend beyond our borders,” Mr Macron said.
‘EVERYTHING IS BURNING’
Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media that “everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame” of the beloved 850-year-old structure.
A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down.
Authorities are still working to determine the extent of damage to the vault of the edifice. The stonework and stained glass of the edifice recreate images and lessons from the Bible.
Paris Fire Department commander general Jean-Claude Gallet said the cathedral’s main structure was saved after hours of work by firefighters on the scene.
“We can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved”, Mr Gallet told reporters outside the cathedral.
Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that for the first time “the fire had decreased in intensity” while still urging “extreme caution”.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Gallet said the next hour-and-a-half was “crucial” in order to see if the fire could be contained.
“There’s a risk that the great bells fall. If the bells fall, it’s the tower that collapses,” Mr Gallet told reporters.
“We need to win this battle and block the spreading of the flames. The most efficient action is from the inside. We are not sure if we will be able to stop the spreading of the flames to the North Tower.”
As the flames tore through the cathedral, Parisians gathered outside the exclusion zone to sing hymns as the building was ravaged by the flames. Many of them were crying, according to local media.
Australian Divya Bala, who has lived in Paris for two years, told news.com.au that it was “shocking” to witness the iconic building be destroyed.
She was walking home when friends and colleagues alerted her to the unfolding tragedy about 7pm Monday.
“By the time I got down to a vantage point, the spire almost looked like a skeleton of fire. It was devastating,” said Miss Bala, a writer who hails from Sydney.
“I’ve only lived in Paris for two years but to see a monument like that just up in an inferno of flames was breathtaking in the worst way.”
The bridges and riverbanks surrounding the cathedral were crowded with Parisians six or seven people deep, according to Ms Bala.
“Everyone just stayed out watching, very calmly, very quietly,” she said. “Some people were in tears, one older gentleman was holding himself up by the railing on the bridge and people were comforting him.
“But I was really struck by how calm everyone was.”
Miss Bala watched along with the crowds for a few hours before returning home.
“As I was walking back, it was the sight of the crowds that really struck me. Motionless, all starting at Notre Dame in silence. Thousands of people,” she said.
“It was bigger than a church, as it were.”
The cause of the catastrophic blaze was not known, but French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire is “potentially linked” to a six million-euro (A$9.4 million) renovation project on the church’s spire and its 250 tons of lead.
The cathedral was undergoing renovations after cracks started to appear in the stone, sparking fears the structure could become unstable.
It came after the Catholic Church in France appealed for funds to save the building.
France 2 television reported police were treating the incident as an accident.
Prosecutors opened an investigation as Paris police said there were no reported deaths.
FIRE DESTROYS 850 YEARS OF HISTORY IN HOURS
Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages as well as one of the most beloved structures in the world.
Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine, the cathedral’s architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses.
It’s considered an architectural feat and a religious and cultural symbol of France.
Among the most celebrated artworks inside are its three stained-glass rose windows, placed high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral.
Its priceless treasures also include a Catholic relic, the crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed, including on Fridays during Lent.
The cathedral was immortalised in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, published in 1831, and has long been a subject of fascination in popular culture as well as the traditional art world.
The first stone of the Notre Dame was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, as the medieval city of Paris was growing in population and importance, both as a political and economic centre of the kingdom of France.
Construction continued for much of the next century, with major restoration and additions made in the 17th and 18th centuries.
French historian Camille Pascal told BFM broadcast channel the blaze marked “the destruction of invaluable heritage”.
“It’s been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris,” Mr Pascal said.
“Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame. We can be only horrified by what we see.”
THE WORLD REACTS TO THE NOTRE DAME TRAGEDY
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo mourned the fire with her fellow Parisians as the rest of the world offered their condolences.
The Vatican this morning released a statement.
“The Holy See has learned with shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, symbol of Christianity, in France and in the world,” it read.
“We express our closeness to the French Catholic and to the people of Paris. We pray for the fire fighters and for all those who are doing everything possible to face this dramatic situation.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “horrified” by the images coming out of Paris.
“Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral — a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century,” Mr Guterres wrote in a tweet. “My thoughts are with the people and government of France.”
Originally published as Thousands watch iconic Notre Dame cathedral burn in the heart of Paris: ‘Everything is burning’
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