Notre Dame de Paris
( Our Lady of Paris )
Two Centuries To Build
Few hours to destroy.
Massive fire engulfs beloved Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
It was Notre-Dame Cathedral that Christian crusaders prayed before going to fight in the Holy Land, where revolutionaries defiled representations of French kings and Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804.
Located on the Ile de la Cite in the center of Paris, the Gothic cathedral — which dates back to the 12th century — attracts millions of tourists each year. The cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions.
The cathedral, which is famous for featuring in Victor Hugo’s classic novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” (Photo – LeLaisserPasserA38)
Construction
- Construction was begun in 1163.
- Two massive towers were finished around 1245.
- Construction was completed at the beginning of the 14th century.
- Its central spire was added in the 19th century.
- In 2013, the cathedral celebrated its 850 years.
French historian Camille Pascal said “the destruction of invaluable heritage. It has been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris … happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame.”
Destruction
- 6:20 PM First alarm sounded (cathedral stuff couldn’t find a fire).
- 6:43 PM Second alarm, sounded (fire became visible on the roof).
- 7:20 PM Firefighters started coming in.
- 7:40 PM Fire reaches the cathedral spire.
- 7:53 PM Cathedral Spire collapses.
- 8:20 PM Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to bell towers and main structure.
- 3:40 AM Fire Department spokesman Gabriel Plus says the fire is “completely under control”.
- 9:30 AM The fire service declares the fire as entirely extinguished.
The damage is extensive. The entire roof has been destroyed ( roughly 1,000 sq meters / 10,700 sq feet) and the spire collapsed into the nave. Paris prosecutors say they are investigating a case of “involuntary destruction by fire”.
Notre Dame will be rebuild.
Bernard Arnault, announces a €200 m donation to the appeal fund. François-Henri Pinault announces the donation of €100 m to the restoration appeal.
Patrick Pouyanné, the chief executive of energy company Total, said his company would make a donation of €100 m.
With donations like these, reconstruction shouldn’t face any financial problems. So far ( Apr 16, 2019 ), close to 500 million €uros pledged already for Notre Dame restoration.
UPDATE: ( Apr 17, 2019 ) – Individuals, companies, and institutions have so far donated or pledged 845 million
€uros, about $950 million, to rebuild the damaged cathedral.
Digital map of the cathedral.
The 3D, detail model of Notre Dame was created by Dr. Andrew Tallon.
Luckily, even In the unfortunate case, when part of the cathedral will have to be demolished due to structural damage caused by fire, thanks to the work of art historian Dr. Andrew Tallon it will be possible to restore it to its previous
Before his death in late 2018, he used laser scanners to map the entire structure of the building. He’s created 360-degree interactive panoramas, 3-D representations as well as highly-detailed laser scans of the Notre Dame de Paris. Hopefully, the 3D data available thank to Dr, Tallon, will help guide it’s returning to glory.
Dr. Tallon’s laser data consist of close to 1 billion data points, which computer software can transform into a tridimensional model of the building which includes interior and exterior architectural details. This kind of data can be used to recreate those details with the help of 3D printers and CNC Routers.
