Fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris
17One of the world’s most beautiful buildings is on fire.
This is heartbreaking.
A fire has engulfed the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019 shortly before 7:00 pm, on the holy week of Easter.
Last year there was an appeal from the church to raise funds to help save the cathedral.
Photographs posted on Twitter and other social media show plumes of smoke coming from the Cathedral as firefighters continue to fight the blaze.
Officials have reported the fire may have been caused by renovation to the cathedral.
In March, there was a fire at Saint Sulpice Church in France. This was the same church used in the movie Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.
Firefighters report there have been no injuries reported.
MSNBC is reporting there is a hail storm of debris falling from the cathedral. They also reported the steeple has fallen into the church.
The mayor of Paris asked people to stay away from the area, and Macron has canceled his planned speech this evening.
This is a developing Story
https://guardianlv.com/2019/04/notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-is-on-fire-video/
- 15 comments, 11 replies
- Comment
Billionaire François-Henri Pinault just pledged more than 100 million euros to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral
I can’t joke about this. This is utterly gut wrenching. The history, artifacts, art… Wow.
A gallery of stunning interior after fire pix are here
https://nypost.com/2019/04/15/photos-show-center-of-notre-dame-cathedral-miraculously-intact/
One of the pix
The protective gargoyles were removed last week for restoration. Let conspiracy theories run wild. I have to laugh, or cry. I’ve been there, this tears at my heart.
@OldCatLady What? I can’t imagine.
As Notre Dame burned, an algorithmic error at YouTube put information about 9/11 under news videos
Early reports are that the fire was started by meh-face calendar activists and what really prompted meh to bring the calendar back.
@OnionSoup I was going to comment that one finger on the monkey’s paw curls.
@ThomasF A Simpson’s reference to a treehouse of horror episode. Love it.
The monkey paw part starts at 2:30
I heard some sculpture/statuary had been removed for the renovation. I hope they were able to save artwork. Besides being a cathedral and national treasure, Notre Dame is also a museum of priceless pieces.
@2many2no an archbishop said in an interview that all relics and art were saved. I find that extremely surprising. Pleasantly so however
@ivannabc Amazing!
What terrible news.
I guess the last of the public had just left & they were closing for the night.
I haven’t heard any news about injuries, I hope everyone is OK.
@OnionSoup I read last night that one firefighter was gravely injured but I don’t know how gravely or what his injuries were.
This is actually the first time I heard about this:
@aetris
I sure as hell hope this fire was accidental.
I suppose they will be raising some funds.
Many people I know will be interested I think.
Damn I hope they can save the stained glass.
Really, really sad…
Some of the stained glass at Notre Dame Paris.
Supposedly this is safe. (Not this week’s images)
@f00l
Notre-Dame fire: Why historic restorations keep going up in flames
“The moment I heard about the inferno at Notre-Dame de Paris (which I’d just visited in January), my first thought was: renovation.”
“Sadly, I will probably turn out to be right. “Unfortunately, [fire] goes hand in hand with these historic buildings,” says Edward Lewis, who has worked on the restoration of centuries-old timber-frame buildings…”
@therealjrn
Have your seen pix of the all those lovely ruins of abbeys and monasteries in England with the gorgeous standing walls?
This happened during Henry VIII’s time. He broke with Rome and the existing church, in order to re-marry, because he thought that was the only way for him to have a son and heir. (I think. I’m no historian)
Once Henry had broken away and created the Church of England, he went after the church wealth and property, esp of any church location that resisted conversion to the COE and that resisted acknowledging the the King (instead of the Pope) as the ultimate religious authority.
The Protestant Reformation was already ongoing on the continent.
Some people in the church (priests, monks, nuns, higher officials, etc) got pensioned off into retirement. Some got tortured and executed. Some got exiled to Catholic counties.
And any wealthy institution that resisted conversion either got co-opted and converted by force, or got taken over, or got destroyed, with the King and sometimes the some local powers taking real estate and valuables.
Once the great English abbies and priories were stripped of their wealth, supposedly, the most valuable thing remaining was the lead that was part of the roof structure.
The easiest way to extract the lead from the roof was to burn the building. So they did. They burnt these buildings deliberately, in order to extract economic value.
I don’t know the procedure, and it must have been very dangerous. But those were dangerous times for any person or thing associated with a religious controvery. People were refugees, or were dying, for religion all the time.
Anyway. Now England has vistas like these:
/image Glastonbury ruins
/image lindisfarne ruins
I always figured Tolkien may have gotten his inspiration for the ancient abandoned Elvish, human, and Dwarvish ruins from these.
@f00l I know all about it–my family is historically Episcopal–I guess we Episcopalians are friendlier with the Catholics nowadays.
I do love the French spirit. Macron has asked for money to restore Notre Dame, and so far the companies which own Moët & Chandon,Dior, Christie’s, L’Oreal, Gucci, Saint Laurent and a few American companies and individuals have pledged over 600 million euros.
French Billionaires And Corporations Have Pledged At Least 600 Million Euros To Rebuild The Notre Dame Cathedral
Luxury goods tycoons and major corporations cited national pride and culture in making the pledges.
@OldCatLady
I hope that restoration and safety upgrades at other gorgeous ancient buildings will get the same attention and funding.
Notre Dame has the advantage of being an icon of Paris and of France.