Fire at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

I know I’m Canadian but I really miss this man.

Spoiler

 

[47of74]

I know I’m Canadian but I really miss this man.
Spoiler
 

Yeah I miss him too.

Donnie hates him because he is everything Donnie is not. Kind, compassionate, decent, and wise among other things.

[Briefly]

@Don'tlikekoolaid, I appreciate your comment and the sentiment. I miss him, too.  He is classy, kind, strong, all the good adjectives actually.

I have seen pictures that make me think those lovely glass windows are gone, but as someone else mentioned (forgive me, but I can't remember who it was) it may depend on which side of the building it was on.

This is such a historical tragedy, as well as a tragedy for the French.  I have heard that at least some of the artwork was taken out rapidly after the fire started.  I hope that it true.

[PumaLover]

Thank you everyone for the information. Our internet is sluggish and my old laptop is even more sluggish so the news sites don't load right for me.

Along with all of you, I am very sad that this is happening. I took art history in junior college and absolutely loved it. I always was just astounded at the beauty of the cathedral and the fact that it was built well before modern times and methods. I still honestly don't know how they did it! I am glad to hear that at least some of it sounds like it will be saved (along with the artwork) and that it will also be rebuilt.

[ViolaSebastian]

I just realized (it's been awhile since I've been to church...) that it's Holy Week and almost Easter, which just magnifies the tragedy of all this. 

I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to see Notre Dame in 1996. It was more than twenty years ago, but I still feel very lucky to have seen it before this happened.

Edited April 16, 2019 by ViolaSebastian

[adidas]

38 minutes ago, Destiny said:

We've seen some of them are gone on camera, so that sounds not completely accurate. I wonder if one side's windows survived, and that's what they are talking about. 

There are really conflicting reports. I can’t make heads nor tails of it, I think we are going to have to wait for confirmation  

https://mobile.twitter.com/Valdiguie/status/1117925148227665921

'Laurent Valdiguié, a French journalist on the scene, reports that the north rose stained glass window – La Rosace Nord – “seems to have held”. “On the street, on the ground, no debris of stained glass. Just old broken stones... ‘We remain worried,’ whispers a fireman.'

 

Face nord les rosaces semblent avoir tenu. Sur la rue, au sol, aucun débris de vitraux. Juste des vieilles pierres éclatées... « on reste inquiet » glisse un pompier.

[TheOneAndOnly]

i feel like I've lost a family member.

[adidas]

Confirmation that French firemen formed a human chain and put their lives at risk to save the irreplaceable relics inside the Cathedral. Bravo!

https://mobile.twitter.com/Anne_Hidalgo/status/1117926795393863681?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-40423595843370182544.ampproject.net%2F1904021746450%2Fframe.html

[Destiny]

Here's the tweet from above, embedded so you don't have to click. 

[47of74]

Hey Donald Dumbfuck, here's Adam Schiff showing how to be a decent human being in these circumstances;

It translates to;

Quote

The hearts of the French, Americans and all who witnessed the grandeur of Notre Dame Cathedral are broken today. What a tragedy, an incalculable loss. We cry together, but we will rebuild.

You will note, Donald, he doesn't whine about how it takes the fun out of the office or make dumb fuck remarks about how much progress the US made.

Of course Donald will probably make some dumbfuck stupid remark.

[Beermeet]

1 hour ago, TheOneAndOnly said:

i feel like I've lost a family member.

Because we have. A living part of our human history.  Whether accidental or on purpose ( war nonsense) I mourn.  That is all of our history.  Accidental sucks but war crap is worse.  Who are humans who live only decades, to destroy OUR history. 

ETA: can you even imagine if it were workers who accidentally did this?!  And, it was you??!!! Omg. O. M. G.

ETA, again:  Thankfully, seems accidental here. I'm just thinking about lost buildings, art, scrolls, whatever it may be. History is so important and just plain ol' fascinating!  I really hate when warmongers destroy such things. I'm all up in my feelings.  I love getting to know our predecessors.

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Beermeet

[SPHASH]

I was at a meeting earlier tonight and a gentleman who is a World War II history buff said Hitler ordered Notre Dame to be destroyed after the Nazis invaded France.  One of Hitler's generals thought the better of it and had the charges pulled out.  Needless to say Hitler had the general shot for defying orders.

2 hours ago, Don'tlikekoolaid said:

I know I’m Canadian but I really miss this man.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

You and me both.  I'd take your Trudeau over Shithead any day.

[adidas]

Twitter user is trying to find the people in this photo.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/beta.ctvnews.ca/national/world/2019/4/15/1_4381647.html

Edited April 16, 2019 by adidas

[Loveday]

1 hour ago, Beermeet said:

Because we have. A living part of our human history.  Whether accidental or on purpose ( war nonsense) I mourn.  That is all of our history.  Accidental sucks but war crap is worse.  Who are humans who live only decades, to destroy OUR history. 

ETA: can you even imagine if it were workers who accidentally did this?!  And, it was you??!!! Omg. O. M. G.

ETA, again:  Thankfully, seems accidental here. I'm just thinking about lost buildings, art, scrolls, whatever it may be. History is so important and just plain ol' fascinating!  I really hate when warmongers destroy such things. I'm all up in my feelings.  I love getting to know our predecessors.

 

I've been thinking this all evening. If this was an accident, and it was caused by a worker, that person will bear the weight of this for the rest of his or her life. I hope for their sake that, if it was accidental, they never pinpoint precisely who caused it. 

Likewise, I've been thinking about all the firefighters who have been doing their damndest to get the flames out to what, until the last couple of hours, seemed no avail. What must be going through their minds? I know they've probably been so focused that they've been on autopilot, but it has to hit them every now and then the enormity of what they're trying to do, that it's up to them to save what they can of 800 years of history. 

[AliceInFundyland]

I loaded the slides about this beauty for my art dept workstudy job. I wanted to see that window.

I am sad.

[Vivi_music]

What a weird day... everything about this is awful. Everything.

I can't really add much to the general consternation. I'm like everyone on here, powerless and in disbelief. Today more than anything showed us that monuments could vanish in an instant.

It felt so weird because I learned the news at work. I work... in an historical chapel. A few years ago their were archeological digs in the basements and nowadays we give guided tours of these digs to visitors. We have a small collection (which includes the artifacts found during the digs, but also all the objects that ornate the chapel), we have an historian on site, there is a little gift shop for visitors and I'm in charge of educational visits and groups. There is also a few employees in charge of religious life (because the chapel is classified ''heritage'' but it is still an active catholic church). Let me tell you... we were clued at our computers and none of us was able to work.

Of course our little chapel is not as significant as Notre-Dame-de-Paris. It can't be compared. We are not a world heritage site. But because we work in heritage preservation EVERY DAY, we could only imagine what the employees at the Cathedral were going through. Curators, guides, clerks at the welcoming desk. I think today helped me understand better why I work in an heritage building. Heritage is what we mourn when it is lost (even when it's a cathedral - or a chapel and we consider ourselves to be an agnostic leftist like I do). When these historical monuments are your workplace, you end up feeling more than attached to the place. The monument becomes an entity of its own. Just today, I closed the chapel with my colleague and told the chapel good night. it was a bit jokingly, but with a little bit of affection too (at least for me). Notre-Dame must have represented the same for so many people, workers, visitors, worshipers, people who saw in her more than just a building. A place with a soul. The soul of every person who has worked to restore, maintain, preserve and share its history for generations of visitors through the centuries. ?

 

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Vivi_music

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

I saw on the TV news they had removed many of the statues because of the construction, so that’s good.  I really liked the gargoyles and I hope they got most if not all of them.  They are in storage and can be used for the rebuilding.

[dharmapunk]

They will rebuild and it will probably be done beautifully. But it won't ever be the same. There just is no replacing an original 13th century building. So sad. 

[Vivi_music]

The Spire (la Flèche) we sadly saw collapsing live before our eyes was the work a famous architect and restorator Eugène Viollet-Le Duc (restauration lasted between 1844 to 1864). Viollet-Le Duc is very well known in France, for the amount of colossal work he did on heritage buildings across France in the 19th century (Sainte Chapelle, Notre-Dame, Château de Vincennes and the city of Carcassone amongst many).

The restauration at the time was to give to the Cathedral it's original appearance back, considering the original Spire was taken down during the French Revolution because it was considered not stable enough. I have seen some posts on social media that Viollet-Le Duc's plans might still exists in the French archives. I have tried to verify that information online and have not been able to find any source to prove it so far. So do not take this information as valid for the moment. But I do hope it could be true.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Vivi_music

[dharmapunk]

5 hours ago, Beermeet said:

I remember hearing about a nail from the crucifixion but not Jesus' crown of thorns.  These relics must have an asterisk denoting "we think it was his". Right? 

I think most modern Catholics are aware that not all relics are authentic. In spite of this those relics have been a source of comfort and inspiration to people for centuries. In my mind that is kind of enough to make them important - not just historically but also spiritually, so I am very glad to hear most of them have been saved. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

The loss is just so profound, it sounds like a lot of the historical things stored there were saved, but structure itself.  

[Italiangirl]

I'm still crying whatching the news, and getting upset at some of our "politician" who want to make this tragedy a political plot. 

I can belive so much history is gone. 

So sad 

[Melissa1977]

7 hours ago, 47of74 said:

 

Yeah I miss him too.

Donnie hates him because he is everything Donnie is not. Kind, compassionate, decent, and wise among other things.

 

Let me add elegant and attractive. Donnie cannot buy it haha.

[Melissa1977]

5 hours ago, SPHASH said:

I was at a meeting earlier tonight and a gentleman who is a World War II history buff said Hitler ordered Notre Dame to be destroyed after the Nazis invaded France.  One of Hitler's generals thought the better of it and had the charges pulled out.  Needless to say Hitler had the general shot for defying orders.

You and me both.  I'd take your Trudeau over Shithead any day.

I doubt it. Showed he reliable data? Nazis had orders to be relatively civilised in France, to convert French people to nazism.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

I found a NY Times article that explains some facts about the architecture of Notre Dame, and about how the fire spread. I wasn't familiar with the layout of the cathedral before this (beyond learning a tiny bit about flying buttresses in junior high social studies), and the article in The NY Times has good diagrams and explanations. It will be behind a paywall if you've already read your limit of free articles for the month, but it's worth a try for the information in it.

There are so many levels of tragedy in this. My personal, selfish bit is that I never had a chance to see it. I'm happy for all of you who got to see it in person. I'm also glad for the people who weren't injured or killed in their brave work stopping the fire and rescuing relics and artwork. 

I also found an article that details anti-semitic Tweets that are trying to blame the fire on Jews or Muslims. Warning, though; I get an nasty pop-up/scam type ad when I open that site now. (My phone seems vulnerable to those. I got it pretty bad when FJ got hit by them.)

https://forward.com/fast-forward/422630/jews-muslims-blame-notre-dame-fire-conspiracy/

Please, please let the conspiracy nuts leave people alone and not use this as an excuse for violence.