As authorities assess the extent of the damage and France mourns in disbelief at the ravages caused by a massive fire that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral for hours Monday evening, causing its main spire and roof to collapse, many fear for the future of the 850-year-old building and its precious artworks.
By early Tuesday morning, officials had declared the fire to be extinguished and architects and experts met to evaluate the extent to which the fire had weakened the structure of the Gothic monument , its ongoing stability, as well as the damage both from the vast quantities of water firefighters poured into the structure and from the staggering heat that reached over 800 degrees centigrade.
Paris’s prosecutor announced on Tuesday the opening of an inquiry into the “involuntary destruction by fire,” which is believed to be related to renovations that were being conducted on the historic building.
Initial evaluations indicate that the main structure had survived while most of the stone vault ceiling, known as “Le Foret” (the forest) because it consisted of hundreds of 13th-century oak beams as long as 110 meters, has been destroyed.
“Notre Dame de Paris, still standing but disfigured,” Le Point lamented in a special edition Tuesday.
According to French media reports, firefighters were able to save a number of the religious and art treasures and relics of incalculable value, including the remains of what is believed to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ.
There were conflicting accounts of the damage suffered by the renowned, 13th century stained-glass “rose window” at the front and the celebrated organ.
“The principal structure is saved, but the situation is still precarious,”said Minister of Culture Franck Riester. “We’re optimistic because the two belfries were saved.
Some attributed the extent of the destruction to one of the most-visited monuments in Europe to decades of official neglect. ”As property of the state, like all French churches since 1905, the cathedral has been deprived of more than minimum government funding to cope with crumbling stone, a collapsing roof and rotting gargoyles,” The Australian newspaper reported. “Funds for repairs have been arriving belatedly, thanks to a campaign over the past year by the Catholic Church to raise €150 million from sponsors in the US and elsewhere.”
President Emmanuel Macron has promised the immediate start of restoration works and the launch of an international fundraising campaign as well as an appeal for global experts to collaborate in the effort.
From Washingto to Tokio and all around the world, the offers for help of all varieties and the messages of sympathy have been pouring.
“Two of the country’s richest tycoons pledged millions to the fund,” The Guardian reported. “François Pinault, the head of Kering, which owns fashion labels including Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Gucci, pledged €100 million from his family’s fortune. Shortly after, Bernard Arnault, the owner of the group Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, declared he would donate €200 million.”
The fire broke out in the roof that was surrounded by scaffolding at about 6:30 pm local time on Monday evening and the flames quickly spread to the 93-meter-high spire that, after burning intensely, started buckling before falling through the roof.
It took firefighters almost five hours to bring the blaze under control.
To Parisians, and to some 13 million visitors each year, Notre Dame is as much a symbol of the French capital as the Eiffel Tower. The catastrophe was heard and seen around the world.
Construction of the cathedral was begun in 1163 by Pope Alexander III, and completed in the 13th century. It has seen multiple restorations and extensions, including the addition of the central spire in the 19th century, and its universal fame is partly buoyed by Victor Hugo’s classic novel, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.”
Experts are calculating that it will take ten to twenty years minimum to complete restoration. “This time, it is not the money that will be missed, but everything will take time, it will be necessary to make an inventory, the frame, the rosettes, the vault, study how to stabilize and secure “, Stéphane Bern told Agence France-Presse. “Remember that for the cathedral of Reims, it took forty years. Fortunately, in France, we have craftsmen, stonemasons” who have the necessary know-how.
