As the world watched, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burned. The centuries-old stone building didn’t burn to the ground thanks to its stone walls, but much of the interior is gutted. Here’s what we know.
It’s stood for a long, long time.
The Gothic cathedral was once the biggest thing on the Parisian skyline. Completed in the 14th century, Notre Dame is full of works of art, sculptures, and other priceless items.
The fire threatened everything.
It’s too early to get a comprehensive list of everything that survived and everything that burned, but we’re starting to get a bit of a picture. There’s good news and there’s bad news.
Interior images are leaking out.
The cathedral doesn’t look great exactly after the fire, but pictures like this prove that the interior is still more or less standing. What’s less known is how some of the relics fared in the flames.
Let’s start with the good news.
Old cathedrals tend to undergo near-constant renovations, and Notre Dame is no exception. Just four days before the fire, work crews removed a series of copper statues from the cathedral’s roof.
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The statues represent the apostles.
There are sixteen statues in all — 12 apostles and four evangelists. Though they look small from the ground, they’re each about 10 feet tall and required a heavy-duty crane to remove.
This is big.
One of Notre Dame’s prized relics is seen here. It’s believed to be the original crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus Christ’s head before his crucifiction. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told CNN that the crown had been rescued.
Now for the…other news.
Everything here should be taken with a grain of salt, because the cathedral is still smoldering. It’ll likely be a few days before we have a good idea of what survived. But one thing that likely didn’t is the cathedral’s delicate wooden latticework.
Notre Dame’s stained glass is beautiful.
Like many big cathedrals, Notre Dame’s windows are adorned with beautiful, colorful stained glass that depicts biblical scenes. These works can’t really be removed by construction crews and tend to stay in place through renovations.
Let’s hope the stained glass survives.
It’s the kind of thing that can’t really be re-created. It’s anyone’s guess as to how these pieces, some of them centuries old, will fare in the aftermath of the fire.
Then there are the gargoyles…
These famous sculptures were added to the cathedral waaay back in 1240 , before the building had even been completed. They can’t be removed, so it remains to be seen if they’ve survived.
The spire didn’t make it.
It wasn’t that old in the context of the rest of the cathedral. But the spire, completed in 1864, was a familiar and iconic sight. It collapsed dramatically in the fire, drawing gasps from onlookers.
The towers did make it.
Aside from the now-collapsed spire, Notre Dame’s most noteworthy feature from a distance is its pair of towers. Fortunately, fire crews managed to keep the flames away from the towers and preserve them (along with the massive bells they contain).
The relics are priceless.
Another one of Notre Dame’s prized relics is a nail, three and a half inches long, believed to have been used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It isn’t known if the nail was recovered.
There’s more.
A fragment of what’s believed to be the cross Jesus was nailed to is also housed at Notre Dame. The picture here shows not the Notre Dame cross, but a similar one.
What about the treasury?
The treasury, housed underground, contains some of the cathedral’s most priceless items, including the crown of thrones. Hopefully the thick stone walls protected anything else that’s stored inside.
Did the Great Organ survive?
The organ is rightly considered to be one of the world’s most famous musical instruments. Some of its components date back to medieval times. It isn’t known how it fared in the fire.
Notre Dame persists.
It had a rough day — perhaps the worst in its long, long history. But the stone walls, along with other integral components, made it through the fire. It may have bent, but it didn’t break.
What stuck with you?
Videos from TV cameras along with Twitter snapshots showed a dramatic scene in Paris. What did you think? How would you react if you’d been there? Tell us in the comments!
