The spire, roof and interior frame of the city’s most-visited monument were reduced to ash.
By James McAuley , James McAuley Foreign correspondent focusing on French and European politics and culture Email Bio Follow Griff Witte and Griff Witte Europe-focused correspondent with extensive experience in the Middle East and South Asia Email Bio Follow Reis Thebault Reis Thebault National and breaking news reporter Email Bio Follow April 15 at 11:03 PM PARIS — The spine-tingling, soul-lifting spire and roof of Notre Dame Cathedral were reduced to ash Monday, as a catastrophic fire spread...
Nearly nine hours after it began, Gabriel Plus, a department spokesman, said the fire was “completely under control,” the French newspaper Le Monde reported. Only residual fires remained, he said. The heat of the fire could be felt from across the River Seine as firefighters frantically pumped water from cranes and sought to save the priceless works stored and displayed within.Initial reports in the French press suggested that many of those pieces had already been removed last week during the renovations, and Finot said that the cathedral’s collection of sacred items, kept in the sacristy, were likely unharmed. “Normally there is no risk of things being burned,” he said.
Dozens of online fundraisers quickly sprang up to contribute to the rebuilding effort. The French Heritage Society, an American nonprofit, also set up a website to collect donations. The French billionaire François-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros, Agence France-Press reported.The building, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1163, is the most visited monument in Paris, with more than 12 million people coming each year — nearly double the people who visit the Eiffel Tower.
“We express closeness to the French Catholics and the people of Paris and we assure our prayers for the firemen and those who are doing everything possible to face this dramatic situation,” the statement read.“I do not have a strong enough word to express the pain that I feel,” tweeted Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
“For me, this has been an inspiration for so many other churches in Europe,” Hammami said. “It’s been here for all those ages.”Europe is full of historic structures that have been rebuilt following damage during both war and peacetime. But experts despaired that the loss to Notre Dame was incalculable and unrecoverable.
French fire services tweeted in apparent reply that “dropping water by airplane on this type of building could result in the collapse of the entire structure.”Although there was no evidence of a connection, France has seen a number of attacks on Catholic churches in the past year, including arson and vandalism.
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