Notre Dame Cathedral has burst into flames.

[The Recherche 29,965]

During Notre Dame Cathedral's renovations, a fire suddenly burst and spread across the building. The Central Tower has already been compromised, and the roof has collapsed. Firefighters are giving their best efforts to save the Cathedral and the various arts which lie in it.

Spoiler

 

It is such a shame to see an iconic mark of French Gothic Architecture, which has stood since the 13th century, be put into serious jeopardy so suddenly. Let us all hope the Cathedral can be salvaged... but that remains to be seen. Fortunately, there have not been any recorded casualties thus far.

[TBD 17,228]

It breaks my heart to hear a historical architecture  is being ruin and may not be able to be restore. The mark of history itself being erase out from its exist, it's just a huge shame..."Nothing gold can stay" I hope they're able to save some and also for the safely of the people who is affected by this fire incident. 

Edited April 15, 2019 by TBD

[Passion 3,478]

Yeah. Pretty much what was being discussed recently inside staff chat, Mesme informed us.

The historical value lost is just uncountable. Like, I don't even care much about, but I still know just how much lost is being lost right now. It withstood wars, revolutions, time... but surrendered to someone's carelessness.

Iconic construction and pride of French.

[Props Valroa 26,043]

The historical value of this church, and now it is burning on a random year, after all it has been through. My only instinct, is that this is an intentional flame, set aflame. Things like this do not happen randomly for no reason, if someone was behind this, they deserve justice. I can't really say much, though, I hope the damage is repaired and that as much of it is salvaged as possible.

[CheeryFox 23,811]

Je t'aime, Paris. <3

[TheRockARooster 47,304]

That absolutely sucks. 

[The Recherche 29,965]

3 minutes ago, Califorum said:

The historical value of this church, and now it is burning on a random year, after all it has been through. My only instinct, is that this is an intentional flame, set aflame. Things like this do not happen randomly for no reason, if someone was behind this, they deserve justice. I can't really say much, though, I hope the damage is repaired and that as much of it is salvaged as possible.

As far as we are aware, this was caused by renovation mishaps. Unfortunately, renovating very old buildings is a relatively common cause of fires, as many older buildings tend to use lots of wood, thus, are very susceptible to flames. While I imagine one particular worker made a grave mistake, that is a bridge to be crossed another day.

[Props Valroa 26,043]

Just now, The Recherche said:

As far as we are aware, this was caused by renovation mishaps. Unfortunately, renovating very old buildings is a relatively common cause of fires. While I imagine one particular worker made a grave mistake, that is a bridge to be crossed another day.

I wonder why renovating old buildings is a common cause of fires, don't they have safety precautions that would prevent this? Evidently, those precautions aren't enough to prevent such fires.

[The Kaeya Simp 13,966]

J'espère l’un de Cathédrale de Notre Dame et être sauvé!
(I hope that any of the Notre Dame Cathedral can be saved!)

Edited April 15, 2019 by Sherbert MGS

[Wannabrony 11,638]

Yes, we were just discussing this in French class at my school. It's truly a tragedy... To think that a historic landmark like this with almost a millennium worth of history, was destroyed in such a short amount of time. While I'm glad that no one was injured in the process, it's still devastating to see the heart of the city in this shape. I do hope that they'll be able to rescue the cathedral from being completely ruined and engulfed by the flames. I wish the best for the Parisians who are affected by this tragic event.

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

I watched a video of the tower-thing collapsing. Felt my heart crumple in two and go right down with it.

Didn't see it live, like the Twin Towers in 9/11, but-

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

This is a terrible tragedy due to the historical significance of the cathedral.

[Envy 5,999]

I saw this earlier and it's really sad. It is such a beautiful piece of medieval architecture, and you really hate to see this happen. I wish historical architecture could be preserved. This building comes to mind for me even more for specifically music history purposes, which is really neat. I remember it having some major importance to medieval music history, in terms of rhythmic modes and polyphony.

[Photon Jet 5,489]

The only way they could possibly restore the cathedral once the fire's been put out is to restructure the building as it once was, print any possible historical pictures saved in cameras or phones and place them in portraits. The other pieces of history I'm not too sure.

[ZethaPonderer 2,196]

Well damn. Historical landmarks carry a lot of ancient things/sources that would help a nation keep track of the roots of their tradition and allow historians the plausiblity of rewriting history. To see it all gone in a blaze. It’s amazing no matter how big and great things humans have built can be easily decimated by nature and themselves.

[TBD 17,228]

13 minutes ago, Photon Jet said:

The only way they could possibly restore the cathedral once the fire's been put out is to restructure the building as it once was, print any possible historical pictures saved in cameras or phones and place them in portraits. The other pieces of history I'm not too sure.

Sadly though...it won't the same. But I'm not sure what's the status now but I guess it is better than a pile of ashes. 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

2 hours ago, Califorum said:

I wonder why renovating old buildings is a common cause of fires, don't they have safety precautions that would prevent this? Evidently, those precautions aren't enough to prevent such fires.

With wood of that age, it is *incredibly* easy to light. Simply using power tools, such as a circular saw or reciprocating saw might generate enough friction heat to ignite it, and that's if you're working on the wood directly. If you're doing stonework next to the wood, even just a hammer and chisel could produce enough of a spark.

The 'fun' thing with that kind of stuff though, is that if the wood is thick enough, you might even have ignited it the center of it with a tool without realizing it, walk away, and have it start visually burning *hours* later as the fire in the center finally works it's way to the surface. So even dousing the surface with water for the length of time you're working on it isn't 100% effective.

[Props Valroa 26,043]

6 minutes ago, Fhaolan said:

With wood of that age, it is *incredibly* easy to light. Simply using power tools, such as a circular saw or reciprocating saw might generate enough friction heat to ignite it, and that's if you're working on the wood directly. If you're doing stonework next to the wood, even just a hammer and chisel could produce enough of a spark.

The 'fun' thing with that kind of stuff though, is that if the wood is thick enough, you might even have ignited it the center of it with a tool without realizing it, walk away, and have it start visually burning *hours* later as the fire in the center finally works it's way to the surface. So even dousing the surface with water for the length of time you're working on it isn't 100% effective.

Sounds like quite dangerous work to do. I would say that this should be a wakeup call of how these sorts of things are renovated.

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

I can only imagine that this is going to fire up political tensions and people are going to blame it on terrorists or something.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

I'm incredibly depressed over this. I mean; you can't replace history and to see this...it's just so saddening.

[BrawnyCharger 511]

I remember seeing a PBS documentary about it which talked about the possible chance of Notre Dame collapsing completely due to it's age. This is just as bad. I just hope it can be rebuilt.

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

Technically this spire wasn’t “original” anyways; it was built in the 19th century.

It’s still sad, sure, but buildings get burned down and get rebuilt all the time. I don’t think you have to completely have “the real thing” in order to appreciate it’s history...

 

[Will Guide 21,325]

As a Disney fan, I was made aware of Norte Dame through the 1996 animated film, "Hunchback of Norte Dame". Regardless of how one personally feels about the film compared to the original novel, Norte Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, or known to us westerners as "Hunchback of Norte Dame", that film made me appreciate one of the world's greatest cathedrals. And now, this has happened.

Despite no deaths of people as a result of this disaster, the pain of losing such an important place really hurts. In honesty, part of me wants to play "God Help the Outcasts" from the Disney animated film to express my sadness for these events, but on the other hand, if I put the scene up, would it be disrespectful to the tragedy?  What do you people think if I were to put up the song number in tribute to Norte Dame itself? Should I or shouldn't I?

Edited April 15, 2019 by Will Guide
Asking for opinion of whether to include the song or not here in this post

[TBD 17,228]

 

update: 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/live-news/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-paris-collapse-live-updates-today-2019-04-15/

hearing these people singing in hymns stings me

Edited April 16, 2019 by TBD

[Thuja 3,658]

I'm glad that no one was hurt but at the same time, seeing such a landmark burn must've felt like a punch to the gut for some.