Incredibly sad and dumbfounding. Never would I have believed something like that to be possible in our modern world.
My heart aches for the loss of our french brothers and sister. All of Europe loses tonight. All of Europe stands by you.
Putain(t)! :ohnoes: – but it’s probably mainly the roof woodwork that is gone, and maybe it was not even the first fire.
I am, however, a bit worried about the glass windows. Also, I heard that “large paintings” were harmed. Does anyone have more and more detailed info on that?
If it helps at all, other churches with much more damages have been rebuilt before. Nonetheless, a severe tragedy.
Probably not a popular opinion, but is there really that much difference between large-scale replacements and the piecemeal replacements that must ultimately be done constantly to such an old building?
There will be much that is ancient that will have been lost. But is the issue with restoration not primarily conceptual, rather than physical? Replace 10 pieces over 500 years or replace all 10 at once?
A cathedral is something like the sailor’s jack knife: three new handles, eight new blades, but all original. So you are correct in your comments about ongoing replacement versus rebuilding.
What may be lost, however, is a tremendous amount of historical data. Consider the wood. Ancient timbers have their story to tell, and much today can be learned from wood about where and when the tree was harvested, what conditions it grew under, technquest of sawing, etc. All of that can lead to old records that tell us so much more about commerce, transportation, how forests were used when the building was erected, and possibly something about the “little people” who really built the cathedral (though Bishops usually get the credit). There are also details on construction technique, which hopefully have already been documented, though that isn’t always the case. And what about the initials or symbols carved into beams by the proud but nameless workers who built the structure?
This of course says nothing about the paintings, stained glass, decorations, and small objects of great antiquity that are now gone. How can you replace the bones of a saint that are now just ash?
Yours Aye,
Mungo Napier (SCA), Laird of Mallard Lodge 🦆
and a great lover of cathedrals
Alan Millar, I suppose the difference is that if we replace the lot at once we get a new church slotted into old walls, whereas if we change piecemeal then much of the original will persist, and even what we change becomes imbued with passing history.
To compare, it would be like being offered a Mona Lisa: would we choose the restored Mona Lisa in an old frame, or a new Mona Lisa copy in an old frame?
Or, do we think that our life’s experience is worth anything over that of a newly trained substitute for our job?
My friend in France said it was the perfect storm: rush hour clogged the very narrow streets preventing the fire trucks passage for over an hour. How peculiar that the fire began in the spire during Holy Week! Such a tragedy.
I am so lucky to have visited Notre Dame a couple of years ago … 😥
Incredibly sad and dumbfounding. Never would I have believed something like that to be possible in our modern world.
My heart aches for the loss of our french brothers and sister. All of Europe loses tonight. All of Europe stands by you.
Yes, my heart is crying
The main structure has been saved and preserved.
Hopefully we will have the opportunity to make donations to rebuild the cathedral.
Absolutely heartbroken. It can be rebuilt, sure, but 850 years of history have been destroyed and can never be restored.
Trying to be positive: Paris may have gained a glorious gothic ruin.
The images look like European cities during WW2 bombs… what a tragedy 🙁
Who did it and why?
I cried–and I don’t generally cry about buildings. Such a wonderful place and so irreplaceable
Such a catastrophe. I’m pleasantly surprised that so much survived, but it’s all so awful.
Putain(t)! :ohnoes: – but it’s probably mainly the roof woodwork that is gone, and maybe it was not even the first fire.
I am, however, a bit worried about the glass windows. Also, I heard that “large paintings” were harmed. Does anyone have more and more detailed info on that?
If it helps at all, other churches with much more damages have been rebuilt before. Nonetheless, a severe tragedy.
Probably not a popular opinion, but is there really that much difference between large-scale replacements and the piecemeal replacements that must ultimately be done constantly to such an old building?
There will be much that is ancient that will have been lost. But is the issue with restoration not primarily conceptual, rather than physical? Replace 10 pieces over 500 years or replace all 10 at once?
Alan and Friends,
A cathedral is something like the sailor’s jack knife: three new handles, eight new blades, but all original. So you are correct in your comments about ongoing replacement versus rebuilding.
What may be lost, however, is a tremendous amount of historical data. Consider the wood. Ancient timbers have their story to tell, and much today can be learned from wood about where and when the tree was harvested, what conditions it grew under, technquest of sawing, etc. All of that can lead to old records that tell us so much more about commerce, transportation, how forests were used when the building was erected, and possibly something about the “little people” who really built the cathedral (though Bishops usually get the credit). There are also details on construction technique, which hopefully have already been documented, though that isn’t always the case. And what about the initials or symbols carved into beams by the proud but nameless workers who built the structure?
This of course says nothing about the paintings, stained glass, decorations, and small objects of great antiquity that are now gone. How can you replace the bones of a saint that are now just ash?
Yours Aye,
Mungo Napier (SCA), Laird of Mallard Lodge 🦆
and a great lover of cathedrals
Alan Millar, I suppose the difference is that if we replace the lot at once we get a new church slotted into old walls, whereas if we change piecemeal then much of the original will persist, and even what we change becomes imbued with passing history.
To compare, it would be like being offered a Mona Lisa: would we choose the restored Mona Lisa in an old frame, or a new Mona Lisa copy in an old frame?
Or, do we think that our life’s experience is worth anything over that of a newly trained substitute for our job?
If we are silent, the rocks will cry out.
And the people of Paris sang in the streets…
Unbearable indeed. There are no other words.
My friend in France said it was the perfect storm: rush hour clogged the very narrow streets preventing the fire trucks passage for over an hour. How peculiar that the fire began in the spire during Holy Week! Such a tragedy.