OT: Notre dame de Paris en feu

[Bama fan]

The great cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is on fire. Terrible destruction of the cathedral
that began construction in 1163. History is going up in smoke!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A terrible loss. Understand the damage is huge.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The fire looks awful. Such a landmark with great history! A huge shame!

 

[huskeynut]

Reports are they cannot stop the fire.

There are no words to describe this tragedy.

 

[VAMike23]

"entire roof already destroyed"

"saving the building is not certain"

This CANNOT be happening !!! There are no words

 

[CL82]

I have no words for how sad this is. This building is a world heritage site and is an immensely important, historically, religiously and architecturally. A very sad day.

 

[augustaTC]

The worst is that there is simply no way to repair/rebuild/reconstruct. Most will be lost forever.

 

[EricLA]

The worst is that there is simply no way to repair/rebuild/reconstruct. Most will be lost forever.

That was my thought. It's not like it was built in the 80's and can be rebuilt, or even fixed. Over 850 years of history could be lost forever. Terrible loss for the people of France, historians, and Catholics worldwide.

 

[huskeynut]

Reports are now saying the 2 towers will be saved. The fire will probably burn for several days more.

 

[bramos]

Heck of start to Holy Week. I visited Notre Dame many times when stationed in France early 60s. Really a sad day.

 

[uconnfan68]

Reports are now saying the 2 towers will be saved. The fire will probably burn for several days more.

The last reports were slightly optimistic about what was able to be saved.

 

[tomcat]

I was there once and it instantly became my favorite old cathedral. I suspect the most we can hope for is somethign much more modest will be built within the walls to commemorate the building as it was. I find it almost impossible to believe that there's enough money to create even a bare replica of the old building. It's a true tragedy, but there are worse things than for it to become a museum with a modern church attached.

 

[Ozimoto]

From what I have seen the masonry portion (main towers and walls) are salvageable. The timber roof is gone. It will be expensive and time consuming, but I think the building can be restored, although some aspects of the building and its contents most likely cannot be replicated.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I have no doubt that the church will be restored. Big hitters in France have already stepped up pledging hundreds of millions.

 

[lne001]

Imagine the indulgences that amount will buy you.

 

[Rema64]

Horrible. I still can't believe it. I was just there last month. I hope they do rebuild it.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I just read that donations are now exceeding $700 million less than 24 hours after the fire.

 

[Bama fan]

Imagine the indulgences that amount will buy you.

Guess the large capital L stands for Luther! He felt the same way.

 

[newfrontier]

The big organ was saved.

 

[vtcwbuff]

The big organ was saved.

I just read that the organ has 8000 pipes!

 

[BigBird]

I just read that the organ has 8000 pipes!

While that seems like an incredible number of pipes, it isn’t unheard of generally. I have a good friend who designs and builds pipe organs. When you see the amounts of his time, labor, materials, and expertise that are involved, it’s much easier to see why organs are so expensive. There is no question that the ND organ will, at the very least, require a removal, refurbishment, and reinstallation. But we can take consolation in that it wasn’t totally lost.

For those who lament that it “can only be original once” and that the originality will now be lost: relax. The ND organ has been modified, expanded, refurbished, and redesigned several times over very many years.

Just cleaning this instrument once it is removed could take several months. But it CAN be brought back to “proper nick.”

All of us who love the beauty of pipe organs wish our French friends the best as they deal with this unfortunate event.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

It would be wrong to think that there has never been extensive restoration in the past.
During the revolution, for example, there was extensive damage in the cathedral (as indeed to
churches all over France).