Notre Dame Cathedral

[New_Earth_Mud]

So sad to see this

[ModAdmin]

With Easter coming soon.  Absolutely a tragic and devastating situation, not only for Christians but people in general.

[New_Earth_Mud]

With Easter coming soon.  Absolutely a tragic and devastating situation, not only for Christians but people in general.

I agree...  sad to see something 850 years old burn like it is.

[Jesse]

The videos are incredibly upsetting.

The flames were out of control. Doesn't leave much hope.

[blue_or_die]

Yeah, just horrible. I really wanted to see this beaut.

It looks like they lost the spire and a good part of the roof, but the towers and crown are in tact. Lots of outside money coming in to support a restoration, so it sounds salvageable, luckily.

[blue_gold_84]

Absolutely devastating. Fortunately, it sounds like it'll be rebuilt.

[New_Earth_Mud]

Absolutely devastating. Fortunately, it sounds like it'll be rebuilt.

Dont think there was any doubt it would be rebuilt. Even if it burned to the ground it would still be rebuilt.

[blue_gold_84]

Dont think there was any doubt it would be rebuilt. Even if it burned to the ground it would still be rebuilt.

For sure. It's just nice to see the outpouring of generosity in order to do it.

[theaardvark]

Will they try to keep it the same, or will they update it to modern architecture, or a blend? 

The church certainly has the funds, and money is already pouring in from rich people around he world...  and you can bet French construction companies would be all over providing free materials / labour. 

It was a tragic event, from a historical and architectural standpoint.  Not many building survive that long.

On the lighter side, it did make for some awesome comedy, with Trump tweeting out that they should use "flying water tankers" to put out the fire... which would have destroyed the structure and imperiled neighboring structures and rescue workers. 

[New_Earth_Mud]

For sure. It's just nice to see the outpouring of generosity in order to do it.

Agree....  700 mill in a day is pretty good id say.

[New_Earth_Mud]

Will they try to keep it the same, or will they update it to modern architecture, or a blend? 

The church certainly has the funds, and money is already pouring in from rich people around he world...  and you can bet French construction companies would be all over providing free materials / labour. 

It was a tragic event, from a historical and architectural standpoint.  Not many building survive that long.

On the lighter side, it did make for some awesome comedy, with Trump tweeting out that they should use "flying water tankers" to put out the fire... which would have destroyed the structure and imperiled neighboring structures and rescue workers. 

It will be rebuilt the same.... except the forest roof. They dont have trees like that in France anymore.

[Jockitch]

Lucky enough to have seen it at 13 yrs old & then, as a young adult, with my buddies while doing Europe on $5. a day, per Arthur Frommer's book

It was a captivating site & certainly made me pause & ponder about the conviction it took to build such a long lasting historical place.
Now, yesterday, it held my attention in a most sorrowful awe.

Cannot pretend to imagine what the loss means to Parisians, devout followers of the faith & those who appreciated it's artistic offerings

[theaardvark]

With new technology and materials, and an unlimited budget, they should be able to make something special...   a billion dollars raised already, in one day...  yikes. 

[BlueInCgy]

As someone who's been fortunate enough to visit a lot of cathedrals in Europe, and having been to the Notre Dame twice, yes, it was devastating to watch, especially given the fact it has survived so much over the years.  Not only to the building, but also to the contents inside.  You can rebuild the structure, but you can't replace the historical contents lost.

As far as the rebuild goes, I hope they do something along the lines of the rebuild the Germans did with the church in Dresden which blew apart (from the heat of the bombing raid, not the actual bombs, wrap your head around that).  Every piece of structure which could be salvaged was, and where they could not they replicated.  They then reassembled the structure (not cleaning the old pieces, so there's a clear distinction between old and new), and it's a very effective tribute to what it was once.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Poor Quasimodo.