World Wide News:

Notre Dame Cathedral is BURNING, NOW!!! Been burning for two hours. 😱😱😞😔😟🙁😢


TL

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

Being broadcast live on BBC TV News. The whole roof has gone, plus the spire. The only real survivors, apart from the shell, are the two western towers.

The cause is not yet clear, but officials say that it could be linked to renovation work.

If that was the cause & it is confirmed, bit funny that yet another famous building burns due to renovation.

Livestream on CBC Canada.

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Regardless of damage, a world-wide monetary contribution should be in order. Notre Dame belongs, really, to everyone, and an effort to rebuild would be a beneficent, unifying, undertaking.

Really sad this news. :-(((((((((( May we they rebuild it.





edited cause it had to be.

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Sad

Renovation works are always dangerous. The church which hosted the Shroud in Torino was destroyed by a fire started from a structure built to host the workers. The Shroud was saved by a brave fireman.
Tullio

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The list of historic buildings, and other historic artefacts that have been destroyed by fire during repair and restoration works is quite alarming. But the good news is that thanks to modern techniques and the skills of modern workmen a fair number of those have been brought back to life - let us hope that Notre Dame is one of those that live again.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

“We are all heartbroken,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
“Notre Dame represents a historically, architecturally, and spiritually, outstanding universal heritage. It is also a monument of literary heritage, a place that is unique in our collective imagination. Heritage of the French but also of humanity as a whole. This drama reminds us of the power of heritage that connects us to one another. We are receiving messages of support from all over the world,”

Je sui le defaut dans l'armure
Je suis la lucarne dans la prison
Je sui l'erreur dans les calculs
Je suis la vie
Antoine de Saint Exupery, "Courrier Sud",
See also Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel prize in medicine, "Elogio dell'imperfezione"
Tullio
The French quotation is a part of a sermon preached by a priest in Notre Dame and listened by a young pilot who will die on his next flight to Africa,in Saint Exupery's book. He had come to France to meet a past love of his but he found her married and, after a visit to Folies Bergeres he entered Notre Dame.

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The rosette window on the northern side of the cathedral, seem to have survived.

And maybe the other at the east and west side.
“From what I could see, the stained glass had not been touched, the three beautiful roses that date back to the 12th and 13th century were still there,” Notre Dame cathedral’s spokesperson André Finot said.
“It's a bit of a miracle, we are very relieved.”
There is uncertainty as to whether a famous sculpture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus will have survived the fire.
For a long time, uncertainty around the fate of the enormous organ standing in Notre-Dame, parts of the organ originated from the Middle Ages. On Tuesday, Notre-Dame organist Vincent Dubois says the organ seems to be saved.
- It's a miracle, he says to FranceInfo, adding:
- What needs to be done in the near future is to remove the instrument (organ) and keep it until the roof and vault have been secured.

According to AFP, the French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the holding company Kering Pinault has donated EUR 100 million to the restoration.
And the world's fourth richest man (according to Forbes magazine), Bernard Arnault, announces in a statement that he donates EUR 200 million to the reconstruction.
It's a bit a weird that a building can mean so much to all of us but there it is:)

I think we all would react the same if Taj Mahal was on fire.
And there are many more buildings all over the world that we all want to be forever.
It's part of our heritage and symbols like these are important to us.
That's why I think it's weird considering our political differences between countries.

There are many ways to scale a mountain. Take the Mattterhorn we Italian call it Cervino. It is like a pyramid with four edges, which we call ridges. They are the Italian ridge, the SE ridge, the Swiss ridge, the NW ridge. Let us change their name and call one the Jewish ridge, another the Christian ridge, then the Islam ridge, and the Hindu ridge, leaving the Buddhists in contemplation. Now if people scale one of the ridges, they are away from the other people scaling another ridge, but if you get near the top you can see people on another ridge and even hear their voices, like the people in the Italian ridge party led by Jean Louis Carrel heard the voices of the Swiss-Engilsh party (led by Whymper).Only a few get to the top. I could not make it.
Tullio

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I have climbed the 387 steps to the top of the south tower of Notre Dame.
Passing some gargoyles on the way up and watched the magnificent view over Paris.
I don't remember seeing the bell Emmanuel though...

Now a few Billion are pledged, could take 5-15 years to rebuild. France may have to import some wood for the large interior beams that France does not have anymore.

I wonder if the fire codes in France would allow it to be rebuilt in all wood. I suspect a lot of wood faced fire rated structural steel. I am also sure that there will be a lot of structural engineering calculations on the stone as to wind loads and earthquake loads (even though France doesn't have many) just to be sure the rest of the building is likely to survive another 1000 years. The result will be a different but visually nearly identical building. One obvious difference being fire sprinklers. Perhaps another being the roof tiles as the original lead ones may now be considered too toxic, especially where they can leach into the Seine.

One of the biggest problems will be identifying stone work that has been damaged by the fire.
Looking at the pictures there is certainly some at the tops of the walls and on the fire-facing sides of the towers that has been damaged to a greater or lesser extent.
I guess people will be scouring the forests in Europe (and probably further afield) for suitable trees that can be felled and seasoned for a couple of years or more before being cut into usable timber. (Oh to have a stand of >200 year old clean straight trunk European Oaks....)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

How 'Assassin's Creed' could help with the restoration of Notre-Dame.
In a statement regarding its involvement in the restoration process of Notre-Dame, an Ubisoft spokesperson said that the company is willing to help in any way it can, although the digital model of the building isn't quite one to one with the real thing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47963835

I think oak is off the table to recreate "the Forest" and if they chose it, it would probably take several years before you even have the timber needed.
Notre-Dame fire: How new tech might help the rebuild
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47971914
Whatever method being used, it's important to rebuild the roof quite soon.
The walls was supported by the weight of the roof and they are now exposed to wind with the danger that they collapse.