Fire in Notre Dame Cathedral

mpal2 said:
We had a local pipe organ damaged during a flood. The newspaper said that the art of making the pipes has been lost and they rarely can repair them to sound like they used to. It has something to do with the materials used and making sure the pipes don't start to flatten during shipping. I don't know how true this is but how sad if it is. It is extremely expensive to repair in any case. :(
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I heard the organ was safe!
 
It's a major tourist attraction in Paris, if speaking on economic terms alone.

It's a part of the city's identity, a national/world monument, a place of importance for the catholic church. It's going to be expensive for sure and take many, many years, but the money will come. The only way I don't see it happening is if the structure that survived is catastrophically compromised and, even so, I still think they'll do it.
 
It seems astonishing that anything at all survived that blaze. To see the interior recognizable at all passes belief.
I climbed that bell tower 50 years ago, and took photos of the lovely gargoyles. So glad so much survived.

ETA. My calculation was wrong. It was almost 60 years ago that I climbed the bell tower!
 
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I could only follow this intermittently at work today. Such a gut-punch to see that history and beauty blazing. Very glad that much of the art has survived and there were no fatalities.
 
So heartbreaking seeing the footage come through as it happened. :(
 
skatingguy said:
Just a devastating cultural loss for Western Europe - maybe this will spur efforts to secure other buildings of this magnitude going forward.
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I'm not sure that's possible. They said that one of the problems fighting the fire was that churches are wide, open spaces and that there was nothing that could contain it. It sounded like a church is a fire's dream: a lot of old wood and unobstructed access to oxygen.
 
I was dreading turning the tv on this morning fearing the structure would be gone. To see it still standing and the pictures from inside showing so much unscathed was a small delight. The roof was never going to be saved once that fire got a hold so kudos to the fire fighters for the decisions made to work on saving the structure itself.

Now comes the long job of ensuring the structure is safe and then rebuilding. Hopefully the Vatican releases funds to assist in that.

And finally hopefully the firefighter injured recovers fully. Hard to believe that only one was injured when you saw how they were climbing up the towers to gain better access to the fire.
 
So relieved this morning to see that Notre Dame has been saved. I'm watching France24 and they have just reported that there is serious damage to the organ. But where there's a will there's a way and no one can doubt after the global reaction to this catastrophe, that a way will be found.
 
I felt all empty yesterday. I couldn’t take it in. What a terrible loss for our culture. And then, when I learned the structure and both towers would still stand, and some art and relics were saved... I was so relieved. Now I’m waiting for more news on what was saved.

This morning’s photos are encouraging. Main Norwegian news sites now reports the fire is completely out.

This article has photos from inside the church taken today. It seems at least one of the rose windows are intact!
https://www.nrk.no/urix/slik-ser-det-ut-inne-i-notre-dame-na-1.14518459
(In Norwegian)

The fire fighters have done a job impossible to describe. They’ve worked so hard during the night, risking their lives saving what could be saved.
 
Very relieved this morning to learn the fire is out and to see the structure of Notre Dame is largely intact. Still crying though. How vulnerable we humans and our creations are.
 
I was crushed seeing this yesterday and expected the worst. Amazing work by the firefighters, they deserve the highest honor in France. I’m not religious but the inside photos show something miraculous.
 
I just heard a live report from Paris that there is fear that the North transept, which is unstable, might collapse. They have evacuated a number of residential buildings nearby as a precaution :(
 
I still can't believe how solid and resistant Notre Dame is. I was kind of relieved seeing the inside and I just read another good news the three XIIIth century rose windows are intact which is nothing sort of a miracle. The magnificent organ hasn't been burned yet some damages might have been done due to water pressure which is a lesser evil frankly.
The biggest bell nicknamed "le Bourdon" (bumblebee) is also saved.
 
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I'm thinking of the people who started building this cathedral more than 850 years ago. It took almost two centuries to build it. Several generations of those who worked to create this masterpiece knew they would never see it finished. In a time when we want everything to be at our disposal asap if not immediately, it is rather sobering...
 
cholla said:
I'm thinking of the people who started building this cathedral more than 850 years ago. It took almost two centuries to build it. Several generations of those who worked to create this masterpiece knew they would never see it finished. In a time when we want everything to be at our disposal asap if not immediately, it is rather sobering...
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Estimates that it could take decades to restore the cathedral means a lot of people in the 60s and 70s may not live to see it completely restored.
 
I grew up in a town with an incredible cathedral, similar in size and style to Notre Dame and even a bit older.
It's completely underrated for no reason - it honestly has to be the most amazing unknown French monument by a long way. https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de...renaissent-pour-lete-apercu-en-images-4344213
It's a massive presence just there in the old town, so enormous and solid you can't imagine anything destroying it. Nothing like any contemporary architecture. All the reinforcements around the side, everything is built so cleverly to make it stay solid and stay up.

We used to visit it all the time with school, and at the time I was sick of having to learn by heart which bits had been built by which people at different centuries, but it is actually so interesting. It was started in the 12th century when the top of the vaults are rounded (roman architecture) and as centuries progress the detailing becomes more gothic, and then they had the unique triple flying buttresses all around. The painting style of the pillars would change based on the period too, and you could see the signature of each workman engraved in every single stone.

When I visited Notre Dame, a lot of what I had been told about my local cathedral applied too. It's completely incredible that all over France, several of these enormous cathedrals were being built simultaneously for centuries.
 
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