Ep.1 Incendie de Notre-Dame
What happened, Why it matters, and what’s the future?
I originally wrote this article for my university newspaper in 2019. I first found out about the fire during a religion class and pulled up a live stream on my phone. This was the first time I’d ever seen an international renown landmark being destroyed. This was also when I learned my phone overheats after watching live TV for 3 hours straight. Anyways.
Notre Dame de Paris—Our Lady of Paris––lit up the city of lights late Monday evening around 7:00 pm Paris time. This is not an unusual occurrence for a Parisian to see. The entire city lights up, including famous landmarks such as said Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. But this evening was different. This time, across the world, people joined, in terror, to watch the building light up. The light came early, and with a barrage of sirens, crying citizens, and shocked onlookers. Reporters, tourists, and citizens of Paris all descended on the Cathedral as it began blowing smoke into the famous skyline. Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire, burning quickly and ravenously.
The roof structure and around the base of the iconic spire glowed orange as flames engulfed the timber roof. Within minutes, fire brigades across Paris fought rush hour traffic to gain access to the small island Île de la Cité. An hour after the fire started, the heat consumed the iconic gothic spire, which collapsed into the roof and vault of the cathedral. The fire raged on for five hours before a reported 400 firefighters could get control, and continued to burn for 15 hours more. This affected millions across the globe, as the historical monument seemed doomed and out of reach to save.
“The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives, at least for now.”[2]
This appears to have been related to the multi-million dollar restoration of the cathedral’s, now, demolished spire, and had spread through the roof. “What most people don't understand, when [you] visit a cathedral is that above the vaults, there maybe 50 to 60 or even more feet of timber that support the enormous roof above the cathedral vaults. So between the vaults and the roof, there is a forest of timber”,[3] reported art historian Caroline Bruzelius to NPR about the fire at Notre Dame, late Monday evening.
Why does this fire, among thousands of devastating fires every day, mean so much to so many people? Notre Dame de Paris sits at the geographical center of Paris and the heart of the nation of France. “Notre Dame of Paris is our history, our literature, our imagination. The place where we survived epidemics, wars, and liberation. It has been the epicenter of our lives,”[4] French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement at the scene of the fire. Notre Dame has survived two world wars, a French revolution, reformations, and crusades. It held many national and religious treasures, “such as the crown and the tunic said to have been worn by King Louis IX when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris.”[5] Notre Dame is not just a center for the Catholic church in France. It is the heart of France and is France’s oldest national monument, beating its competitor, the Eiffel Tower, by some 724 years.
What is the future for Notre Dame? In a word, good. Early reports say the integrity of the building is intact. Many of the priceless artifacts were saved during the blaze thanks to firefighters and other emergency personnel. French billionaires who own famous French apparel companies, French airlines, Apple, and the French government all came forward to pledge money towards the restoration within hours of the fire’s end with $600 million euros raised within a day, and millions more pouring in by the hour.[6].
What we can expect to see in the aftermath is a combination of innovation and imitation. The destruction of the aging spire and the dried roof provides ample opportunity to install fire protection in the nearly century-old cathedral. But it is also unlikely that authorities will approve designs that do not resemble or compliment gothic architecture in some form. Cathedrals and firefighting agencies across the globe will analyze the event to better understand how to fight a fire at a national monument. For now, we can watch the beginning of a new era for Notre Dame de Paris.
[1]
[2][4] https://www.apnews.com/7538fdb8fc8b476b8c442f0c2ac52115
[3]https://www.npr.org/2019/04/15/713616843/art-historian-discusses-the-history-of-paris-notre-dame-cathedral
[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47937775
[6] https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/notre-dame-fire/index.html