Our live coverage of the destructive fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral is ending, but you can follow the links below to read more:
The University of Notre Dame in Indiana is donating $100,000 toward the renovation of the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, according to a statement post on the school’s website today.?
“At the direction of Father Jenkins, the University will donate $100,000 toward the renovation of the cathedral. In addition, the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus will toll 50 times — representing the 50 Hail Marys of Our Lady’s rosary — at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, to mark the start of the rebuilding process for the cathedral,” the statement reads.
There is no direct connection between the cathedral and the university.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in a televised address to the nation, said he wants the Notre Dame Cathedral to be rebuilt in five years.
He continued: “Throughout our history, we have built towns, ports, churches. Many have been burnt due to revolutions, wars, due to mankind’s mistakes. Each time we have rebuilt them.
“The fire of Notre Dame reminds us that our story never ends. And that we will always have challenges to overcome. What we believe to be indestructible can also be touched,” Macron said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the cathedral of Notre Dame “even more beautiful.”
In a televised address to the nation, Macron said he shared in the nation’s sorrow and hope for the future.
“We will make the Cathedral of Notre Dame even more beautiful. We can do this,” he said.
Macron said there will be time for reflection and then action.
A Paris chaplain who tended to victims of the 2015 terror attack in the city has been hailed as a hero once more, after he reportedly entered the burning Notre Dame cathedral to rescue priceless relics from the blaze.
Jean-Marc Fournier, the chaplain of Paris fire service, entered the cathedral with firefighters to help salvage some of the priceless artifacts held in the building, the Paris 15th district mayor Philippe Goujon told reporters on Tuesday.
Fournier had previously held prayers and assisted victims after terrorists killed 130 people in attacks throughout the French capital in November 2015.
A number of relics were rescued during?Monday’s devastating fire, which tore through and destroyed parts of the 850-year-old church.
They include the Crown of Thorns, which some believe was placed on the head of Christ and which the cathedral calls its “most precious and most venerated relic.”
He has been praised as a hero throughout social media for his bravery after Etienne Loraillère, the director of the French Catholic television network KTO, posted a picture of Fournier and commended the chaplain.
The full restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral will take between “10 to 15 years,” according to Frédéric Létoffé, the head of the group of companies for the Restoration of Historic Monuments.
Létoffé, speaking at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday, said the site will need to be secured before any restoration work can take place.
As Notre Dame Cathedral burned,?Cristina Correa Freile channeled her own emotion by imagining how the church’s most famous fictional denizen — its hunchbacked bell ringer — might have responded to the calamity.
She drew Quasimodo, the Disney cartoon version, embracing the iconic Paris landmark — complete with twin towers. She posted her drawing Monday on Instagram, where it quickly went viral and earned more than 160,000 social media supporters.
The physically deformed Quasimodo is the central character of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which tells the tale of his obsession with the beautiful Esmeralda. The story was told on the big screen in 1939, then Disney remade it in 1996 as a cartoon.
President Trump spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call this morning to offer condolences for the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
“The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure,” she said.
Sanders added:
There are not any trees in France that are large enough to replace the ancient Beachwood beams that burned in the Notre Dame fire, Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of the French Heritage Foundation (Fondation du Patrimoine), told CNN.
“The roof was made of beechwood beams over 800 years ago. There are no longer trees of that size in France,” he said.?
Asked if any trees in Europe were big enough for the beams and could be imported to Paris,?he said, “I don’t know.”
Remarkable photos and video show the scale of the damage inside the iconic 850-year-old Gothic cathedral in Paris, which was partially destroyed in a fire.
Watch:
Even before the blaze at Notre Dame was extinguished, conspiracy theories and fake news about the fire had ricocheted around the internet.
The most egregious examples of disinformation originated in the darker corners of the internet, but many found bigger audiences on social media.
And big social media companies appeared to struggle to contain the spread of the content.
Here are some of those conspiracy theories:
What we know: Paris Prosecutor Rémy Heitz said that while the cause of the fire has not been established, it was likely “accidental.” “Nothing shows that it’s an intentional act” he said in a press conference on Tuesday
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed to this report.
The total amount of donations by French business leaders and businesses for the reconstruction of Notre Dame confirmed by CNN so far has topped $700 million.
The latest donations of $28 million come from French billionaires Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, Martin and Olivier Bouygues and the Crédit Agricole — Pays de France Foundation.
In a statement, French bank Crédit Agricole said it was “sharing the collective emotion caused by the damage to this jewel of our heritage.”
The bells on Westminster Abbey in London will ring out at 5:43 p.m. local time to mark the moment the Notre Dame fire began, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said.
She said the move would “underline our solidarity with France and her people.”
“And later this week, on Maundy Thursday, bells will ring at cathedrals and churches across England,” May said.
May said experts from Historic England will coordinate with their colleagues across the area to make an offer of support once the full extent of the damage has been assessed.
She continued: “When it comes to the task of rebuilding, French craftsmen and women are among the finest in the world. As they prepare to embark on this daunting task, we stand ready to offer any UK experience and expertise that could be helpful in the work that lies ahead to restore this magnificent cathedral.”
Workers will attempt to preserve the infrastructure of the Notre Dame over the next 48 hours, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told reporters outside the cathedral.
There is still structural risk to the building, which is being surveyed, he said.
Castaner added that it will take an enormous amount of time to reconstruct the building, saying that the process would take “days (and) months.”
He said there was no suggestion that the cause was anything other than accidental, but confirmed that an investigation is underway to identify the precise reason for the blaze.
Some details of the chronology of Monday’s fire are beginning to emerge.
At 6:20 p.m. local time (12:20 p.m. ET), security guards at the Notre Dame first heard the fire alarm and evacuated the cathedral, even though they didn’t see any sign of a fire,?a spokesman for the Paris fire brigade told CNN.?
The fire alarm rang again at 6:43 p.m. local time (12:43 p.m. ET). That’s when the cathedral’s security officers noticed the fire, Paris Prosecutor Rémy Heitz confirmed during a press conference on Tuesday.
As Paris looks to restore its iconic cathedral to its former glory, it appears funding won’t be an issue.
French cosmetics company L’Oréal, along with The Bettencourt Meyers family and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, have said they will donate 200 million euros ($226 million) to the restoration efforts.
That puts the amount of donations so far from French tycoons and businesses, confirmed by CNN, at 601 million euros ($679 million).
That total doesn’t include money from the city of Paris and the French government.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has tweeted a video of artworks being carefully removed from Notre Dame and taken away for preservation and protection.
Items rescued from the blaze include the Crown of Thorns, which some believe was placed on the head of Jesus during the crucifixion, and the linen Tunic of St Louis.
The works are being sent to Paris City Hall and to the Louvre museum for safekeeping.
At dawn on Tuesday, as the first blush of sunrise illuminated Notre-Dame de Paris, residents gathered on the left bank of the river Seine to see the damage wrought by a devastating fire that had engulfed the historic cathedral overnight.
“For me, it’s much more than stones, it’s a part of myself that is burning,” said Sarah?Virot, 32, who works for a Christian association in the capital.
Notre Dame sits at the French capital’s geographical and psychological heart, on a small island called the ?le de la Cité, embraced on both sides by the Seine.
It’s not just the center of the city, but of the country; from it, all other distances to the capital are measured. And so, for Parisians, the cathedral is not just a religious structure, but a shared legacy.
If the Eiffel Tower came to signify the city’s sparkling future, Notre Dame has, for generations, embodied its past. “She is the heart of Paris, eternal and spiritual,” Parent du Chatelet added.
Read more about how Parisians are coming to terms with a monumental loss here.
News of the devastating fire at Notre Dame will have struck a familiar note to many in York, in northern England.
York Minster, the city’s gothic cathedral, was hit by a similar disaster in 1984 when a fire partially destroyed the building.
Both churches can be traced back to a similar time period; Notre Dame was completed in the mid-13th century, while York Minster’s West Window and other parts of the site date back to the 14th century.
On Tuesday, York Minster tweeted that the cathedral community had been “shocked and saddened” to see the damage at Notre Dame.
The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu – the second most senior bishop in the Church of England – said he had held prayers for Notre Dame on Tuesday morning.
York Minster was painstakingly restored over four years at a cost of just ￡2.25 million (about ￡7 million, or $9 million, in today’s money).
In terms of structural damage, Notre Dame may be in better condition, since its vault was primarily made of stone, not wood.
Those looking for hope amid the devastation of Notre Dame will be heartened by French President Emmanuel Macron’s assurance that the French will “rebuild together,” and immediate fundraising efforts leading to?pledges?of 50 million euros ($56 million) and 200 million euros ($226 million) from Paris’ City Hall and the luxury goods and fashion house LVMH, respectively.
Assuming the requisite funding is found, how will the process be carried out?
Before distinguishing between the salvageable and the unrecoverable, immediate steps will need to be taken to prevent further damage, architectural historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle explains.
“It’s already a wet building because of the water that’s been pumped on it, so they’re going to need to provide some kind of cover from the elements,” he told CNN.
“The roof’s job was to discharge thousands of tons of water, so where’s that going to go? Every time it rains it’s going to cause damage at this point, so it’s a war of attrition now.”
French authorities will ultimately need to take a series of design decisions over how best to rebuild. To do so, they will need to better understand how the medieval cathedral was constructed in the first place.
But the goal of restoration is not always to replicate the past, and modern tastes and technologies may influence how damaged structures are reimagined.?
Read more about the task France faces in rebuilding the Notre Dame here.
Paris police architects and experts have identified “some vulnerabilities” in the structure of Notre Dame after inspecting the cathedral on Tuesday, Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez says.?
“Overall the structure is good but some vulnerabilities have been identified especially at the level of the vault, the ceiling and to part of the northern transept,” Nunez said, adding that five residential buildings nearby have been evacuated.??
The 850-year-old cathedral was being worked on at the time of the fire, with scaffolding around part of its structure.
Pope Francis has tweeted his condolences to the people of France, following the fire at the 850-year-old Catholic cathedral.
Many of the most valuable works of art inside Notre Dame Cathedral were saved by firefighters and have been relocated to safety, French Culture Minister Franck Riester told reporters on Tuesday.
Items rescued include the Crown of Thorns, which some believe was placed on the head of Jesus and which the cathedral calls its “most precious and most venerated relic.” The linen Tunic of St Louis was also saved, and both items have been moved to Paris City Hall, Riester said.
Other works are being taken to Paris’ renowned art museum, the Louvre, and relocation will continue throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
“As for the large artwork,?the “May de Notre-Dame”, this can be moved from Notre-Dame from Friday morning,” he said. “It seems from a first examination that while the fire has not caused any damage, there is some smoke damage.”
“We’ll move these items safely to the Louvre storage facilities,?where they will be dehumidified, protected, conserved and restored,” he added.
Riester also said the famous rose windows at the north and south of the cathedral “do not appear for now to have sustained?catastrophic damage.”
Billionaires and businesses continue to pledge vast financial sums towards the rebuild of the Notre Dame.
The latest commitment has come from French oil and gas company Total. The company’s CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, tweeted it will put €100 million ($113 million) to the reconstruction efforts.
That matches the pledge made by French billionaire Fran?ois Pinault earlier. The family of Bernard Arnault, the French business magnate who owns luxury goods and fashion house LVMH, has promised to contribute €200 million ($226 million), and tech company Capgemini also said it is contributing €1 million.
The total amount pledged by French businesses and business leaders is so far is €401 million ($453 million). That number doesn’t include the €50 million euros ($56 million) put towards the Cathedral by Paris city hall.
Amid the smoldering rubble, the candles inside Notre Dame were still burning.
CNN has exclusively obtained a series of remarkable photos taken inside the cathedral shortly after a fire partially destroyed large portions of the historic building.
They show that some candles – lit by visitors offering prayers in the hours before the blaze began – were still burning in the nave in the wake of the devastating blaze.
They also reveal blocks of white rubble scattered across the cathedral floor, embers falling from a hole in the roof, and water still issuing from a hose pointed inside the building.
The pictures, believed to have been taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning and passed to CNN, paint an eerie picture of one of France’s most famous and visited sites.
See them below.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has sent a message of condolence to French President Emmanuel Macron following the fire at Notre Dame.
The monarch said she was “deeply saddened” by the blaze and sent her “sincere admiration” to the firefighters who tackled the fire.
Here’s the full message:
Paris’ fire department has released a video documenting their efforts to extinguish the Notre Dame fire on Monday evening and through the night.
The footage shows dramatic close-up scenes of the fire, as well as overhead shots which illustrate the extent of the blaze.
Firefighters extinguished the fire after battling it for nine hours, the department said earlier. Around 400 firefighters were involved.
Watch the video below.
French newspapers are predictably dominated by images of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral ablaze and swathed in smoke on Monday evening.
Le Monde released a special edition of its paper as the cathedral – the name of which translates to “Our Lady” – became engulfed in fire. “Our Lady, our history,” their front-page headline reads, alongside a poignant picture of a boat passing by on the Seine as the historic building burns.
“Our Tragedy” reads the front page of Libération, which features a photograph of the dramatic moment when the Cathedral’s gothic spire collapsed.
A similar image adorns the front page of local newspaper Le Parisien, alongside the headline “Our Lady of Tears.” The paper is owned by LVMH, the fashion conglomerate whose CEO, Bernard Arnault, earlier pledged a €200 million ($226 million) donation to help fund rebuilding efforts.
French Catholic newspaper La Croix also showed the spire’s collapse on its front page, accompanied by the moving headline: “The heart in ashes.”
Valérie Pécresse, the President of the ?le-de-France region in which Paris lies, has told reporters that the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral was an accident.
“This was an accident. It wasn’t intentional,” she said.
Pécresse said the region would unlock an emergency fund of €10 million euros ($11.3 million) to help in the rebuild efforts.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, says she is planning a “major international conference of donors” to raise money for the effort to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral – as multimillionaires continue to pledge vast sums towards its reconstruction.
The family of Bernard Arnault, the French business magnate who owns luxury goods and fashion house LVMH, has promised to contribute €200 million ($226 million).
The donation comes after French billionaire Fran?ois Pinault pledged €100 million ($113 million) to the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged cathedral.
Hidalgo said on Twitter that she is ready to host a fundraising event at Paris City Hall, adding that the event would attract patrons from “all over the world.”
The mayor also said she will mobilize a fund she started for the city in 2015, and noted that the city has a budget of 80 million euros already in place for the restoration of its churches.
Firefighters have extinguished the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, after battling the blaze for nine hours, the city’s fire brigade said earlier.
The fire broke out Monday evening and raged for several hours before 400 firefighters,?working with skill and precision?to avoid further damage to the medieval landmark, managed to bring it under control.
Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, has called on all 28 member states of the European Union to help France rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral.
Tusk sent “words of comfort and solidarity” to the country. He referenced his own hometown of Gdańsk in Poland, which suffered heavy bombing during World War II.
The Paris Fire Brigade has tweeted that the stone construction of the cathedral has been “saved,” as have the “main works of art” from the building.
In a two-part tweet, the fire service praised the cooperation of “different services” of the state, working together over nine hours to extinguish the inferno at one of Paris’ most recognizable landmarks.
“The structure of the cathedral is saved and the main works of art have been put somewhere safe, thanks to the combined action of the different services of the State working together.”
“After more than 9 hours of fierce fighting, nearly 400 firefighters from Paris extinguished the appalling fire.?2 policemen and a firefighter were slightly injured,” a followup tweet read.
A Twitter user who is in Paris for her honeymoon captured a group of Parisians singing hymns as they walked along a street on the banks of the Seine, close to Notre Dame Cathedral, even as operations to bring the fire under control continued.
The poster, Jordan Doyle, said that she took the video out of her hotel window, a stone’s throw from the famed cathedral, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“I’m devastated for the people of Paris. I was there on my honeymoon, and I just saw the cathedral for the first time yesterday morning.”
She said the singing brought her out of her bed.
“I opened the window and immediately my eyes welled up. It was beautiful to see people coming together for their city and for Notre Dame. You could honestly feel their sadness. It really felt like they were serenading the building.”
“They stayed there for a while, singing and applauding. It was surreal.”
Laurent Nunez, French Secretary of State to the Ministry of Interior told reporters Tuesday morning that the fire which devastated Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral Monday was “under control” but has not been completely extinguished.
“There are still small outbreaks, the cooling off process is still underway, new outbreaks were reported and contained right away,” he said.
“The risk of fire is now ruled out; now it’s about the building, know how the structure will resist to this serious fire last night.”
He said that there was a meeting of experts from the French architectural review board “to try and determine if the structure is stable and if the firemen can venture inside and continue their mission.”
The Paris Prosecutor’s office tells CNN that investigators have started to hear testimonies from construction workers working on the site.
Parts of the 850-year-old cathedral had been under renovation, but it is as yet unclear whether the upgrade work has a connection to the blaze, which began early Monday evening.
Throughout the city, crowds of residents and tourists hugged one another as the fire raged on Monday evening, some singing hymns.
Others packed the banks of the Seine across from the Gothic masterpiece, hoping against hope that some 400 firefighters could prevent further damage. Still others held their heads in their hands, unable to watch.
While the magnificent edifice with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass draws tourists, art and architecture buffs from around the world, for generations of Catholics it has also been a place of pilgrimage and prayer.
“This can’t be happening, it’s breaking my heart,” one woman muttered.
“Not Notre Dame. Not Notre Dame.”
Read more here.
Notre Dame’s centuries-old wooden roof beams, stone exterior and soaring Gothic architecture made Monday’s blaze especially difficult to tackle and Paris firefighters deserve praise for their efforts, experts say.
The biggest problem, experts say, was accessing the wooden ceiling beams which formed?the frame?for the soaring roof.
“It was pretty evident in the first 20 minutes that it was going to be a bad fire,” said Gregg Favre, a former firefighter with the St. Louis Fire Department in the United States.
Aerial options like the?one suggested by US President Donald Trump?were considered unrealistic.
“Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!” Trump said in a tweet.
But the French civil security agency, Securite Civile, said in a tweet – in English, an apparent response to Trump’s suggestion – that any aerial water dumping could “weaken the structure of Notre-Dame and result in collateral damage to the buildings in the vicinity.”
The spire and most of the roof of the centuries-old cathedral have been destroyed, but the two bell towers and the main edifice were saved.
Video released by the French Interior Ministry showed the scale of the response. Authorities deployed some 400 firefighters, pumped water from the Seine and flew drones to survey the damage.
Read more here.
While countless workers contributed to the building of the 850-year-old cathedral, every architectural detail refers back to a single overarching design concept.
But, during its construction, there was also considerable scope for individual expression through the structure’s many ornamental carvings.
Their variety provokes almost unfathomable levels of interest, while offering invaluable insight into the way people thought, felt and worked during a crucial period in European history. This playfulness and richness of expression has long been recognized as one of the great hallmarks of Gothic architecture.
Find out more about this historic work of architecture, and why its loss is so tragic, here.
The central Paris cathedral, which celebrated its 850th anniversary in 2013, took 182 years to build – construction began in the 12th century and was completed in the 13th century – and can hold more than 6,000 worshipers.
Notre Dame was badly damaged during the French Revolution, and was restored by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. It is known for its enormous stained glass windows, among other remarkable architectural details.?
Learn more about this remarkable building here.
Cathy Widawska, who has lived in Paris for 15 years, told CNN that she was walking along the Rue de Rivoli, in the city center near City Hall, when she saw “a little smoke” come from the roof of the cathedral.
She said that she and other Parisians were finding it “very hard today – (Notre Dame is a) very important monument… it’s very heartbreaking.”
“It’s not just about the church, it’s a monument, the identity of people here. It’s the heart and soul of Paris. It’s very hard to see it (burn down).”
“I never thought it would be such a huge fire,” she said. “Around 15-20 minutes later, when we could see the flames, it was a very aggressive fire, and when the iconic spire collapsed, it was very hard, everyone who was standing there knew it was very serious.”
She said that when she first saw the blaze, her first thought was that it was a terror attack.
“Everyone was terrified, we didn’t really know what was happening.” Authorities have since said that they are working under the assumption that the blaze was unintentional.
Widawska told CNN’s Don Lemon that it was devastating to see the damage wrought on the centuries-old structure.
“Everyone was very sad, people started to cry, it was a very emotional moment,” she said.
“It was like losing someone, you have seen on the faces of people it was like fear and sadness, they know something very bad was happening.”
Retired FDNY deputy chief Jim Bullock told CNN’s Don Lemon that churches, particularly cathedrals, are especially susceptible to fires.
“It’s old wood that is dry and burns fast, and there’s a lot of wood in that building,” he said of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was ravaged by a huge fire Monday.
Notre Dame’s ceiling has been described as a “forest,” thanks to the amount of wood that was used in its construction. Some of it is hundreds of years old, and tinderbox dry.
“Churches have their own problem, especially large cathedrals,” he said. “There’s a large open-air space, so there’s lots of air to feed the fire (along with) a lot of combustible stuff in the ceiling. And once (the fire’s) in the ceiling it’s hard to get up there – it could be 300 feet in the air.”
He says that as there were renovations underway in the 850-year-old church, some artifacts had been removed from the building, meaning that fewer relics may have been lost than might otherwise have been the case.
Travelers from all over the world shared cherished memories of their visits to one of the most beloved religious structures in the world with CNN.?
One visitor, Natalie Esparza, 35, from Detroit, first went to the world-famous building in 2000 and was “absolutely spellbound.”
“Outside of its religious connotations, it stands for the progress of man. Its lasting historical value to what we can accomplish in our artistic and mathematical endeavors will not be matched.”
Another visitor, 64-year-old Rona Moody, from Scotland, first came in 1974 to celebrate the end of her freshman year of college. She was inspired by the art inside the cathedral, and is now a stained glass artist in Pennsylvania.
Click or tap here to read more of their stories.
Some of the 400 firefighters who had been deployed to fight the massive blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral are leaving, to applause from the gathered crowds, according to CNN’s Nic Robertson, who is on site at the devastated cathedral.
It is thought that the fire, which broke out Monday evening, was started unintentionally, Robertson said. There is renovation work going on at the 850-year-old church, but it is not clear if the fire was connected to the renovation work.
A YouTube feature designed to combat misinformation linked the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The fire broke out in the 12th-century cathedral in the center of Paris Monday evening. The cause of the devastating blaze, which brought down the 19th century spire, is currently unknown.?
A label with a paragraph pulled from the Encyclopedia Britannica displayed background information about the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks underneath multiple YouTube livestreams of the fire, including those posted by NBC News, CBS News, and France 24.
The company blamed the mix-up on its algorithms, and removed the links on all Notre Dame fire posts after the issue was flagged.
Read the whole story here.
CNN affiliate BFMTV reports that the family of French billionaire Fran?ois Pinault has pledged €100 million ($113 million) to the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged cathedral.
Pinault’s son, Fran?ois-Henri Pinault, who is president of the Artemis Group holding company, called the massive blaze at Notre Dame a tragedy that impacts all of France.
“This tragedy strikes all the French, and well beyond that, all those dedicated to spiritual values,” he said in a statement to French news agency AFP. “Faced with such a tragedy, everyone wishes to revive this jewel of our heritage as quickly as possible.”
The family’s holdings include luxury brands Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, as well as auction house Christie’s.
Video released by France’s Ministry of the Interior on Facebook shows the lengths that Paris’ firefighters went to battle the enormous blaze, and the extent of the fire itself.
Drone footage seen in the video (at around the 1 minute 23 second mark) shows exactly how intense – and widespread – the fire was, from above the cathedral.
The cathedral has been a symbol of Catholicism and French identity for over 850 years.
Its foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III, and the cathedral was completed in the 13th century.
Today, with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass, Notre Dame is considered a feat of architecture, as well as a major religious and cultural symbol of France.
Its central spire, which tragically collapsed Monday in the blaze, was built in the 19th century amid a broad restoration effort, partly buoyed by the success of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1831.
The cathedral draws millions of visitors. Located in ?le de la Cité, a small island in the middle of the city, the cathedral is one of Paris’ most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year.
A drawing by architect and artist Cristina Correa Freile has captured how many people are feeling in the aftermath of Monday’s devastating fire.
Her sketch, showing Quasimodo from Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” based on Victor Hugo’s novel, has been widely shared on social media.
Correa Freile says she was inspired to create this drawing of the character hugging the cathedral after hearing about the fire.
The artist lives in Ecuador, but has visited Paris twice and loved it.
“I made (this) because of what’s happening right now,” she said. “The world embraces Notre Dame right now.”
CNN shot inside the famous Paris cathedral in VR back in 2015 – click or tap here to view Notre Dame’s awe-inspiring interior.
In a time of heightened political, religious and sectarian divisions, a fire in a Catholic cathedral in France brought the world together in shared sorrow, writes CNN’s world affairs columnist, Frida Ghitis.
“The massive, majestic cathedral looked like it had been there forever, and would remain until the end of time. If only for a moment, Notre Dame ablaze reminded us that we all share this world; that human history means everyone’s past,” Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, writes.
“If only for a moment, the notion of a ‘World Heritage,’ which UNESCO formally bestows on places that we, as humanity, ought to care for and cherish so that we can pass them to future generations, seemed exactly right. We all hurt over the loss of Notre Dame.”
Click or tap here to read the whole piece.
A spokesman for Paris police tells CNN the Notre Dame fire is now under control.?
The fire burned for several hours Monday, causing the collapse of the cathedral’s iconic spire and the destruction of its roof structure, which dated back to the 13th century.
Consumed by flames, the spire leaned to one side and fell onto the burning roof as horrified onlookers watched.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised firefighters for saving the cathedral’s iconic facade and towers. “Thanks to their bravery, the worst has been avoided.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a tweet that major art pieces and sacred items from Notre Dame were saved from the fire.
“Thanks to the @PompiersParis, the police and the municipal agents,” Hidalgo tweeted, “the Crown of Thorns, the Tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place.”
The cathedral is home to numerous artifacts, works of art and religious relics, each telling a story.
After the devastating fire?tore through the cathedral on Monday, toppling its spire,?many feared?the items – collected over the centuries – might be lost. It was unclear how many had been saved.
Click here to take a look at some of the most famous items that the Paris cathedral is home to, including several sacred artifacts, including the Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the?“true cross”?on which Jesus was crucified, and one of the?nails used by Romans to crucify Christ.
The former US first lady, who is in Paris for her book tour, has tweeted about the “majesty” of the cathedral, which is one of the city’s most recognizable and visited attractions.
Michelle Obama writes that the “history, artistry, and spirituality” of the famed cathedral “took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be.”
She signaled her commiseration with the people of Paris, but expressed confidence that it would soon be rebuilt, to “awe us again.”
While the cathedral’s two towers were saved, its spire collapsed in the massive blaze that engulfed the world-famous building. Watch the moment it came down here.
The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral “goes beyond Paris,” Archbishop Michel Christian Alain Aupetit told CNN.
“I received a supportive message from the chief rabbi of Paris. Everyone is writing in to share their feelings. This goes beyond Paris. People are reacting worldwide,” Aupetit said.
“The young people behind me show the power of faith, the power of a message of peace,” the Paris archbishop added.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey is following news of the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris with “great sadness,” according to his official Twitter page.
“The destruction of this architectural masterpiece of world heritage is a disaster for all humanity,” Cavusoglu wrote in French on the social media site.
Notre Dame’s medieval roof structure, known as “the forest,” has been lost to the massive fire, according to Msgr. Patrick Chauvet, the rector of the cathedral.
“The framework from the 13th century is called a forest, because it required a forest of trees to build it,” he said.
The cathedral’s wooden frame, which primarily consists of oak, contains beams that date as far back as the first frame. It features trees cut down between 1160 and 1170, forming one of the oldest parts of the structure.
Most of the current frame dates from the year 1220, according to the church’s?website.?
According to the Notre Dame website, it’s one of Paris’s oldest frameworks. Learn more about the construction of the famous cathedral here.
Former vice president and potential 2020 Democratic hopeful Joe Biden tweeted his thoughts on the blaze, which consumed large sections of the cathedral.
“For centuries, Notre Dame Cathedral has withstood wars, revolutions, and the test of time,” the tweet reads, noting that the devastating fire occurred during Holy Week, the holiest week of the Catholic calendar. Biden calls it “a symbol of faith & a testament to history,” adding that he believes it will be reconstructed, to “rise again.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, a spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
Prosecutors will be investigating an “involuntary destruction by fire,” the spokesperson said.
French President Emmanuel Macron just announced that, starting Tuesday, he will launch an international fundraising campaign to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Macron, speaking from the scene, described the fire as a “terrible tragedy,” but added the “worst had been avoided.” He noted that the cathedral’s facade and two main towers did not collapse during the fire.
Watch Macron’s statement below:
French-American?Fran?ois-Xavier Lochet, 70, was attending Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday when a loud alarm went off just as the congregation began the Universal Prayer – it was so loud Lochet could barely understand the messages in French and English.
Most of those who heard it, however, just stood there as visitors began to be ushered out of the cathedral.?That was until, Lochet said, a police officer approached a priest and told him, “This is no joke.?You’ve got to get out.”??
Lochet began walking back to his mother’s home when he turned around and saw smoke.
“Nobody was paying attention,” he said.?“I stopped and I took my phone out and I waited.”??
Soon, smoke began billowing out from the cathedral.
He could not help but think about the countless craftsmen who devoted their entire lives to constructing the church, even those who helped renovate it.?He’d often go to Mass, or just to listen to the cathedral’s organs.
“It’s a huge piece of history of Europe,” he said.?“Gone.”
He took this photo of the early flames. That spire, and much of the roof on which it sat, would later fall:
It’s past 11 p.m. in Paris, but the crowds of Notre Dame mourners haven’t gone anywhere – many are still gathered outside the cathedral, praying and singing hymns.
Some are on their knees; at one point, a group broke out in a haunting rendition of the “Ave Maria.”
They have been singing for almost two hours now, and the hymns are getting louder as more people join in.
Watch the scene here:
Both towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral “are safe,” said Laurent Nunez, secretary to the interior minister, hours after a massive fire toppled its spire, burned most of its roof and threatened the centuries-old art and architecture inside.
One firefighter has been seriously injured,?said Paris Fire Brigade commander general Jean-Claude Gallet. Gallet said that two-thirds of the roof has been destroyed.
This week is Holy Week, when millions of Western Christians mark the death and resurrection of Jesus. Under normal circumstances, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris would have been preparing to display its holy relics to the faithful on Good Friday.
But as fire engulfed the sacred site on Monday, Catholics across the world reacted in horror and disbelief, particularly when the cathedral’s iconic spire toppled amid the flames.
For generations, Notre Dame has been a place of pilgrimage and prayer, and, even as religion in France has declined for decades, it remained the beating heart of French Catholicism, open every day for Mass.
About the cathedral: Notre Dame is not a parish church, meaning that it does not have a regular body of worshippers who “belong” to the church. But it is still the home church of Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, and draws Catholics for vespers (evening prayers), Masses and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Penance.
And every year during Holy Week, Notre Dame unveils some of the most coveted relics in Christendom. Among them is the Holy Crown, believed by many to be from the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus. Catholics have prayed with the Holy Crown for more than 16 centuries, according to the cathedral.
Notre Dame counts among its treasures two other relics connected to Holy Week: a fragment of the Wood of the Cross, believed by many to be a part of the “true cross” on which Jesus was crucified; and one of the nails that the Romans used to crucify Jesus.
Former US President Barack Obama just tweeted about the destructive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
UN Secretary-General?António Guterres said he is “horrified” to see the images coming out of Paris.
“Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral — a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century,” Guterres said in a tweet. “My thoughts are with the people and government of France.”
The next hour and a half will be crucial to efforts to save what remains of the Notre Dame Cathedral, said Jean-Claude Gallet, commander general of the Paris Fire Brigade.
“We need to win this battle and block the spreading of the flames. The most efficient action is from the inside. We are not sure if we will be able to stop the spreading of the flames to the North Tower,” he said.
He said the initial call to emergency services notified authorities of a fire in the attic of the cathedral, although the cause of the blaze is unknown.
“We are evacuating the most precious artwork that is being sheltered,” Gallet said.
The spire atop the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris collapsed Monday evening during a massive blaze.
The flaming spire, which was surrounded by scaffolding, leaned to one side and then collapsed onto the burning roof. The fire rapidly spread and took over the iconic cathedral.
The collapse drew gasps from a crowd watching nearby. They were joined by somber people who had come to recognize the landmark as a symbol of Paris.
Here’s what we know about Notre Dame:
The Vatican has released the following statement in response to the Notre Dame fire:
UK Prime Minister Theresa May just tweeted about the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral:
The French civil security agency, Sécurité Civile, has responded to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that “flying water tankers” should be used to fight the Notre Dame fire.
The agency tweeted, “The drop of water by air on this type of building could indeed result in the collapse of the entire structure.”
The civil security agency is part of the Interior Ministry.
Earlier today, Trump had said on Twitter, “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, shared his shock and sadness, calling the cathedral “a world treasure.”
In a statement to the people of Paris, DiNardo said the cathedral has “long been a symbol of the transcendent human spirit as well as our longing for God.”
Read his full statement:
As evening falls in Paris, crowds are still gathered near Notre Dame as the historic cathedral burns.
A witness earlier in the day had described an eerie silence; now, the crowd has begun to sing hymns together, many on their knees.
Watch it here:
Thibaud Binétruy, who lives in Paris, just told CNN of what it was like when the spire fell:
The French Interior Ministry said 400 firefighters have been mobilized to deal with the Notre Dame blaze. The cathedral’s iconic spire collapsed earlier this evening. The?central spire was built in the 19th century?amid a broad restoration effort, partly buoyed by the success of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” in 1831.
US President Donald Trump said Notre Dame’s famous cathedral was struck by a “terrible, terrible fire.”
“When we left the plane, it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn,” he said, referring to his trip from Washington to Minnesota for a tax-day roundtable with business leaders.?
The President lamented the damage to the historic cathedral.
He said the fire would put “a damper” on the tax roundtable he was about to begin.?
Listen to President Trump here:
Patryk Bukalski was at a café near the Notre Dame Cathedral when he started smelling smoke.
“A bartender said the Notre Dame is on fire, so I left and saw this horrible picture,” he told CNN over Instagram, where he posted a video of the burning cathedral.
He said people are standing outside, just watching and crying. “It’s horrible. It’s a symbol of Paris,” Bukalski said. “It’s just sad. I don’t know what more to say.”
At the scene: It is eerily quiet. Hundreds of people are lining the Seine watching the fire, but they are silent. Police have pushed people back, even telling residents they can’t go to their homes.
“In Paris, it’s a monumental symbol – every person with different religions are really moved and saddened,” said another witness named Anne Marie, speaking with tears in her eyes.
See the crowds here:
French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral, where a fire rages on.
He was accompanied by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and first lady Brigitte Macron, as well as the Paris prosecutor.
Witness Elaine Leavenworth said ash and embers were falling from the sky as a fire tore through the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Leavenworth said she felt droplets of water as firefighters worked to douse the flames.
She shared this photo of a tiny piece of debris in the palm of a hand:
The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Notre Dame fire, a spokesman tells CNN.
The fire broke out Monday evening at the iconic cathedral in the heart of Paris.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the city “stands in sorrow” with Paris.
As the spire of the Notre Dame cathedral collapsed, there were horrified gasps from the watching crowd. Sirens blare in the background, as emergency personnel work to put out the flames.
Watch it here:
US Vice President Mike Pence just tweeted about the ongoing Notre Dame fire.
“Notre Dame is an iconic symbol of faith to people all over the world – and it is heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames,” he tweeted. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters on the scene and all the people of Paris.”
See the tweet here:
Bystander Cameron Mitchell just told CNN:
First lady Melania Trump took to Twitter to offer her prayers for “everyone’s safety” as a fire continues to rage at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
“My heart breaks for the people of Paris after seeing the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral,” she said.
Read her tweet:
French President Emmanuel Macron just tweeted about the Notre Dame fire, saying that he was “sad tonight to see this part of us burn.”
“Notre Dame of Paris in flames. Emotion for a whole nation. Thoughts for all Catholics and for all French. Like all our countrymen, I’m sad tonight to see this part of us burn,” he said.
See his tweet:
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said exceptional measures are being taken to try to save the cathedral.
Former French President Fran?ois Hollande ?said on Twitter, “Notre Dame is our common heritage. It’s a wound to see it devastated by flames. Respects to the firemen trying to extinguish the fire.”
A fire broke out at the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris on Monday evening.
Here’s what we know about the blaze:
Click here to read this story in a standard article format.
The spire of the Notre Dame’s cathedral has collapsed, fully engulfed by flames.
Here’s the moment that happened, from Twitter user Hash Miser:
French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a planned speech tonight because of the ongoing fire at Notre Dame cathedral, a élysée Palace spokesperson said.
In a statement, the spokesperson said, “Due to the terrible fire ravaging Notre-Dame-de-Paris, the President of the Republic has decided to postpone his speech.”
A video we’ve just received from Twitter user Hash Miser appears to show Notre Dame cathedral’s entire spire in flames.
See it:
President Trump just tweeted about the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and suggested “flying water tankers” could help put it out.
“Must act quickly!” Trump tweeted.
Read his tweet:
See President Trump’s comment on the fire:
Maria Kadzhaeva shot this video of the fire at Notre Dame cathedral.
It showed flames and a tower of smoke billowing from the upper reaches of the cathedral in Paris.
Click play to see it:
Boat passengers on the river Seine are sharing videos of smoke billowing from the historic Notre Dame cathedral.
Police are asking people to avoid the area and clear the way for emergency personnel.
See it:
The fire department is trying to control a “terrible fire” that’s broke out at Notre Dame cathedral, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo tweeted:?
The medieval cathedral was completed in the 13th century and today, with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass, is considered a feat of architecture as much as a religious symbol.
It is one of Paris’ most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year.
Today, it is in flames.
Twitter users are sharing various angles of the fire at Notre Dame.
Police in Paris say the Notre Dame cathedral is on fire.
In a tweet, police said: “Notre Dame Fire in progress.?Avoid the area and facilitate the passage of emergency vehicles and intervention of the @prefpolice.”
