Notre Dame Cathedral is ****ed

Notre Dame Cathedral on fire

Well there goes that. Apparently the roof has collapsed and everything.

@volsung: how do you feel about it?

I really hope this is just some dumb accident and not vandalism by some idiot.

what a shame. never like to see things like that happen

This is terribly sad news - especially this close to Easter.

Hopefully it’s not caused by what we’re all thinking...

It's really saddening to see historical landmarks go up like this, especially from an accident due to renovation. Thankfully I haven't heard anything about people being hurt, so that's at least good news.

I've been to Paris but never made a tour of Notre Dame. It's a damn shame about that fire.

@volsung: Guess god was upset and didn´t want anymore restoration :D

But it will be rebuilt and luckily no one was hurt or injured

@davillain-: ‘accident due to renovation’

This is not confirmed yet.

What a damn shame. I visited there several years back and it was a sight to see. A fire can't just wipe away the history and legend of this place. I just wonder what they will do after this fire is tamed, and how extensive it will be for them to rebuild it.

400 years from now tour groups will hear about the great file that happened centuries ago resulting in a major restoration effort.

Glad nobody was hurt.

I hope they can and will rebuild it.

What a sight... The cathedral is full of historical art which no doubt will be completely destroyed along with the entire frame of the building.

It's good to know that Quasimodo is OK.

@volsung said:

@FireEmblem_Man said:

@volsung: how do you feel about it?

Tell me how you really feel

Yeah. I'm not so sure they can.

Speak for yourself.

Anyway, seems like preliminary reports point to an accidental cause for the fire.

@mandzilla: It’s too soon to assume anything. But given France’s problems with Islamic extremism and it being so close to Easter are some clues not to ignore or rule out.

@Sevenizz: Old buildings burning down during renovation work is almost always due to accidents or human error. The same thing happened with the Glasgow School of Art... twice.

@mandzilla: It’s too soon to assume anything.

Right, except you have already made clear your assumptions.

@mandzilla: touché

Nobody was hurt?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Buildings get damaged/destroyed all the time, and get rebuilt. Destruction of property sucks, but it can be replaced. Human lives cannot.

@Sevenizz: We'll wait and see what comes of the investigation. At least we can agree it's a miracle that nobody got hurt. ?

I hope Quasimodo is okay.

Very sad to see such a historical monument like that get destroyed plus all the historical documents and artwork in there as well. At least no one was hurt.

If you don't resonate with the importance of this destruction then you must not understand the history of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Much like a human, many of the treasures within this building simply cannot be replaced, either. So yeah, rebuilding it can possibly happen, but not what's destroyed within.

Muslims are actively destroying thousands of years of Buddhist art and archetecture in Afghanistan, including UNESCO Heritage sites, it's horrible, but it's still just destruction of property. Buildings hundreds, sometimes thousands of years old, burn down. It's the risk of wood-frame construction.

It's an incredible loss, but ultimately, it can all be replicated (I'm sure there are photographic records of every inch of the place). Lives cannot. It's very fortunate no one died in the fire.

The past is the past. It's ridiculous to be spending as much as they were renovating a centuries-old building in the first place when there are so many other things they could be spending that money on. Too caught up in the past to pay any attention to what's going on in the present, that's Europe in a nutshell.

Paris is no longer Paris.

Rural people are mad af and riot every weekend like it's some weekend leisure.

The culture is divided and people hate each other.

Might as well have it be conquered by some group that does it better.

I'd much prefer it to see it become Islambol.

Many of these "centuries-old building" are number 1 tourists spots, bringing in more money than they take up from visitors from around the world.

They also bolster properties. Coming from Scotland, a golf-core with a castle sitting inside or within view, will bring in significantly more money, as well as serving as a home in some cases once it's actually renovated.

Other countries do the exact same thing,. Anything humanly possible that can count as a tourist attraction will be used, France just happens to be steeped in rich history and incredible feats of engineering and art.

Blazing ignorance and hatred spewing from you per usual.

@Sevenizz: "This is terribly sad news - especially this close to Easter."

I didn't even think about that. The whole thing is sad in itself, this makes it more.

At least secured over 100 million euroes in funding for it already. So the money isn't the biggest issue.

Give this a guy a medal.

Where is the hatred in his post? I don't get it.

They will

The last thing I heard is that Macron want´s it rebuilt and open within 5 years.

But holy shit this thread and some nutjobs on the right.... I mean come on sometimes an accident is just an accident.

Can you imagine if people were even half as emotional and upset at the Catholic sex scandal as they are a damaged building?

A damn shame. I was lucky enough to visit Notre Dame twice, it's definitely an amazing experience.

I am not actively hostile against religion, but I am one of the most a-religious people I know. I will say this about religion, however: it has given humanity some the most beautiful art and architecture of all time. Notre Dame is no exception.

I think Notre Dame will be fine. This might seem like a tragedy right now, and in some respects it is, but this is not the first time a historic building has burned down, and not the last time one will be rebuilt again. We should be thankful no one was hurt, given it's popularity as a tourist destination.

Apparently the rich folk of Europe have already donated 600+ million Euros. That is pretty impressive.

I am sure the cynics will be like "Oh that money should go towards people blah blah blah" but whatever, a good deed is a good deed.

Also, fun fact, Ubisoft apparently took incredibly detailed scans of Notre Dame for their criminally underappreciated game Assassin's Creed: Unity, and might be able to use it to help restore the cathedral. Anyone that played that game knows what I am talking about because the detail of that game was in-freaking-sane.

I was watching the news at the gym tonight, and they said some dude ran into the burning building and saved a bunch of art and artifacts. Sad, but perhaps not a total loss.

@heathen75: the past is the past, so let's just destroy the great wall of China. The past is the past, so let's destroy the great pyramid of giza. The past is the past, so let's destroy the Roman Collosium. The past is the past, so let's destroy all the old Greek temples.

Sounds a lot like hatred to me

You sound like a hyperbolic drama queen. He didn't say anything should be destroyed. He just said there should be other priorities over renovating the building with that kind of money. Sounds more like a difference of opinion on priorities or maybe indifference to the situation at the the worst. People are too quick to label any opinion they disagree with as hatred these days. That's why we have such a toxic political climate.

We are used to that. Not to Notre Dame burning.

Bringing money to who? How many average Parisians really benefit from it? Some docents, a few local business owners, some of their employees, but who really benefits the most? Not average Parisians. Either the French Government or the Catholic church, I'm not entirely sure who gets the profits but it's one of them. And it's not like it's the only tourist attraction in Paris, the entire city is one big tourist attraction. Even if every museum in the city up and spontaneously combusted tomorrow, they'd still get millions of tourists each year just because of the city's history.

And I'm all fine with tourist attractions if they're not burdensome, but Notre Dame is the very definition of burdensome. Before the fire they were spending around six million dollars restoring it, now they're looking at a cost of hundreds of millions. Hundreds of millions on a building that is almost a millennium old. Buildings get old, they deteriorate, they crumble. Spending so much money on a building that is falling apart naturally is insane, especially when there are so many issues of spending in France already. Invest more in our schools? Make reforms to address cost of living? Oh, we just don't have the money. Rebuild a thousand year old church? Sure, why not! Like I said, Europe is too obsessed with the past to pay any attention to what's going on in the present.

I feel like an odd one for not being the least bit phased by this news. And when I ask myself questions like - what's a bigger number, the number of years it has been around, or the number of children who fell victim to the lechurous priests(?) - then I for real know I'll never give two shits about it.

Sadly true.

Pathetic. Not you but the unfortunate reality of the situation. I firmly believe if any other business was involved with such numerous instances of abuse constantly being covered up, it would cease to exist. But hey, lets freak out over four walls and a roof.