Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Not to get too religiousy - but the building wasn't the thing - the thing that inspired people to build the thing is the thing. And that didn't suffer any damage.

 

The wooden parts that burned was almost totally from the renovation of the 1860s. I have seen reports that some, maybe even most, of the art and artifacts within the cathedral were saved. The main irreplaceable (in historic terms, they can be recreated) loss would be the stained glass windows.

 

I’m very fortunate I visited Notre Dame on my one day in Paris

 

You really cannot have fire suppression around art like that, at least I don’t think.

One lady burns her microwaveable popcorn and you have a shit show.

I hope the contractor doing the renovation has some powerful lawyers.

 

If you don’t have fire suppression, you should have guards on 24/7 to be on the watch for fires.

 

OBVIOUSLY NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS NOTRE DAME BURNING DOWN PROVISO:

A local homeowner was doing a massive renovation of a mansion from the 1870s. It had taken years and was nearly finished. One of the last jobs, other than painting, was refinishing the floors. He hired a well-regarded company to come in. They began sanding the floors. One night, they finished sanding and headed home. At some point during their day, one of the sanders had taken the top off a nail that had held down the floor. That nailhead remained hot enough to spark the sawdust in one of the bags. The bag caught fire. The house was gutted.

There is some workman in France who might have no idea what he did to burn down one of the most famous buildings in the world. It could have been the smallest thing.

 

A dull blade can do the same thing. If you are sawing wood and the blade starts to "burn" the wood, the shavings can stay hot and start to smolder overnight and then eventually burn.

 

Found this on Facebook

 

I heard somebody once explain old churches like that are teachers of the faith. They were built when people were largely illiterate, so Bibles were useless. Art and architecture, however, could convey the message.

 

I hope someone paid the insurance premium this month.

 

I, too, have spent exactly one day in Paris, and the Notre Dame Cathedral was actually my favorite site there, even including the Eiffel Tower.

Just loved it, and when I first heard this news/saw it on TV, I actually let out an audible, "No!, No!"

Just like the resident Parisians...