Cathedral of Notre Dame

I am watching the Cathedral of Notre Dame burn in real time. Sadly, it looks like most of this nearly 700 y/o historical monolith will likely come down as the fire is centered on the tall spire in the middle of the church.
____________________________________________
My fucked in the head POTUS just advised the Parisian government to fly-in an airborne water tanker.

I apologize to the forum for my current POTUS's total, absolute ignorance.

Oh my, this is awful. That northern part of the Cathedral will be lost I imagine, the fire is raging. I don't watch the news a lot, but reading your post I have switched it on Miki. The bell towers appear to have firefighters actually inside and a hose is directed there, possibly it has caught too, or they are damping it.

This is a world heritage building around 850 years old, you can't dump a heavy amount of water on that, it has lost it's roof which is part of the structural strength. Maybe a helicopter with some well directed hits with the 'bucket' they use, but even that may be risky. Should the stone structure goes, the building is gone forever, if it survives the roof can be replaced. Whatever happens the artwork, the building, the spire, can never be replaced to it's former self.

Mes amis Parisiens, mon coeur est avec vous.

Celia xx

Around 9:00 PM Paris time the interior minister said the building was lost.

Fortunately, around midnight, Macron said they can save most of the structure and he announced a rebuilding campaign will begin Tuesday.

A billionaire has already offered a fuck ton of cash towards rebuilding efforts.

But sadly, it won't be the same. It might look similar, but the building has died.

I think I agree with you. And if I do agree with you then it should be leveled so the next generations can get on building a newer Paris - and hopefully a better Paris.

Sorry! No it should not be levelled!! It should be rebuilt. Every part that is original pre-2019 will be logged and every new part 2019 and beyond will also be logged. Future generations then have the ability to date when the original parts were actually erected, carved and forged in the future.

It is too ensconced in the Parisian psyche to be levelled..... sacré bleu!

Imagine a world with no historic reminders of the past, it would be kinda 1984 Orwellian drudge, drudge, drudge of twisted modern architectural rubbish... glass and concrete obsenity!!! It does not matter where one comes from, it is not nationalistic, it is world heritage!!!!

Celia xx

This is Paris, France because sometimes there is a difference. This will bring France together in a way perhaps like 9/11. No enemy just themselves.
Never ever undestimate the French. They will transcend this.

I love France no I adore France.. Last time I was there we were in St Malo. My little son aged 8 loved it so much he didn't want to go home. Neither did we
.
I feel their pain.

France is beautiful, as is most countries of northwest Europe. We are fortunate to reside here. Normandy and Nord Pas De Calais regions are also now beginning to regain their character. Huge swathes of it had laid barren and bare after the ravages of war, with only young trees on the landscape in many areas for years...

Vive la France!

I apologize for my post about tearing the cathedral down.

I think it was borne from the idea that a certain segment of our western society wants to keep the old as icons of something better than the future and they use these icons against what is new.

Yes Notre Dame is not just a cathedral, a church. It is a symbol of France. The French are an exemplar of secularism. But they cling to a, I don't know a sense of revolution and civilisation.
They were among the first alongside America to say a country is for the people. The fact that the Statue of Liberty was a French present to another democracy says something.

The French will unite behind this while still revolting as befits their nature. Any country that has a permanent riot police is a healthy democracy.

The French Revolution destroyed much of the religious imagery of the cathedral.

I can relate to your thinking Miki.

I hate religion. I despise what it did to my fiance the other day. I am no friend of religion.

But Notre Dame is more than 'just yet another church building'.

The church building I attend, it is also a very old building. Not on par with Notre Dame, but, it's been around 150 years. It's been renovated a few times. But it needs to be more than just old to be special.

One of my friends who I worked with and one of only two people from my previous life I told about Miki was a very religious Catholic, in the Jesuit sense. He knew I was an atheist and we never discussed religion, except for the one time mentioned below.

We were driving through the Central Valley of California and we would pass mega-church after mega-church after mega-church.

I briefly mentioned that his Jesus once railed upon the steps of Herod's temple against the money-changers and I wondered what he would think of all of these monoliths being built in his name by those who collect large sums of money. My friend quietly said he would be disappointed.

It is not so much that I am against anyone's god (I am not); I am against the hypocrisy of their religions.