Notre Dame cathedral is on fire!

[ithinkmycatistryingtokillme]

It's breaking on bbc news, from the pictures it's a major blaze!

I'm sure they can sell a few things to raise the money - they don't need to have vast art collections.

Images from Reuters inside the cathedral. I'm astonished! I was fearing something like Coventry cathedral the morning after the blitz, but no!

www.reuters.com/news/picture/notre-damecathedral-burns-idUSRTX6RS6E

Obviously those are just glimpses and also tell us little about the structural integrity, but... my hopes are rising this morning!

They have 3D laser maps of the entire structure. That will be an enormous help.

Good point, hadn't thought of that.

All French churches are owned by the state. They allow The Vatican to run it and do day to day maintenance but the bill for the restoration isn’t their responsibility.

That’s because the fire started in the roof and went upwards. I told you that last night and no one listened to me.

I’m more concerned that so many people are inside taking photographs etc when the building may not be safe.

Maybe that flippant person last night was wrong and there is a higher being who was looking out for the Notre Dame.
I'd forgotten that the French churches were all state owned but I do think that the Vatican has a moral responsibility to contribute considerable amounts of money towards the restoration.

Well yes, but you'd think the Vatican would be at the front of the queue to say they'll be chipping in, right?

Only a couple of images from actually inside, IM0GEN, and I think that was one photographer (Philippe Wojazer).

The interior doesn't look anywhere near as badly damaged as I expected last night. Those old magnificent cathedrals were truely built to last.

Not as bad as those bits below the fire were made of Stone which dosnt burn it can be cracked with excessive heat but it won't go up like the wood did! The roof of the nave is of stone the roof above that will be wood and lead metal which has a very low melt point.

Built to last?, not all bits, on most buildings like that they are almost constantly reduilding them, stone decays over time due to atmospheric pollutants. Ther is a vid on the BBC website showing that bits of stone have been replaced by wood!.

As you can see here..

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-43258266/notre-dame-cracks-in-the-cathedral

Well yes, but you'd think the Vatican would be at the front of the queue to say they'll be chipping in, right?

^ Yes. They aren't usually shy at making money so they shouldn't be shy at offered it. I think the Vatican is a very efficient money making machine - back in 2015 NASDAQ reported this:

How Much Money Does the Vatican Have: What We Do Know
We know:

The Vatican Bank manages $64 billion of assets on behalf of its 17,400 customers, according to a Dec. 5, 2014, article in International Business Times .
The bank owns $764 million in equity.
The bank keeps gold reserves worth over $20 million with the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Indeed, Justaboy. The Victorian iron repairs were what made the damage to Coventry cathedral so bad.

www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11672297/When-the-spire-of-Coventry-Cathedral-tottered.html
In the 1880s, many roof tie beams were found to have failed, and so 50 trusses were cut down the centre and iron flitch plates inserted, bolted at intervals of two or three feet. These were to bring disastrous complications during the Blitz.

On that November night in 1940, the four firewatchers on duty were beaten back by the rapidly spreading flames from incendiary bombs on the low-pitched roofs. They could see that the roof would be lost, but they did not expect the walls of the nave and chancel to fall as the wrought-iron flitch plates buckled in the heat, pulling down the piers and arches.

I did have a wry smile when I read that shortly after Pinault pledged to donate €100m towards the restoration, that Bernard Arnault the owner of the group Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy announced that he’d donate €200m.

Interesting that at Coventry, York, and now Notre Dame there is a cross very visible in post fire photos. Totally chance but it's very powerful.

he probably wants a big gold plaque in the nave that says Restored with the kind generosity of Monsieur Pinotnoir

Or a get out of jail free card indulgence ... seems they've started to effectively sell them again:

www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10indulgence.html

Wonderful news about the damage being less than expected though

I do think that the Vatican has a moral responsibility to contribute considerable amounts of money towards the restoration

Good luck with that; the Vatican has a moral responsibility for a lot of things, but it's not necessarily safe to assume it'll be discharged

On other news, does anyone know if there's anything more about the firefighter who was injured? I can't seem to find anything online and am hoping he's getting on okay ...

Newspapers in France today are reporting that one firefighter and two police officers were injured, but not seriously.

Good luck with that; the Vatican has a moral responsibility for a lot of things, but it's not necessarily safe to assume it'll be discharged

I was thinking precisely that when I typed it. I hope that pressure is being put on the Vatican to provide some money.

The Vatican has a moral responsibility for a lot of things. But a pretty poor record for stepping up. Maybe it will be more willing if it’s a building....

Good to hear that, Auld ... it's a shame anyone was hurt, but like the cathedral itself it sounds as if it could have been worse

Water damage will be an interesting factor as all the water seeps down through the building. I do hope that the time of year means there won't be any really hard frosts over the coming few weeks.

Apparently the protocol long set in place for the firemen and women was save the people, save the art, save the altar, save what furniture you can, then focus on the structure. In that order.

What a stellar job they did.

They did an absolutely amazing job, to go from saying that they didn't think the structure would still exist this morning to the situation we have now is incredible.

Well done the firefighters, glad nobody died.

I think it would be nice if the Vatican contributed. But I don't think they 'have a moral duty'. To do so.

Why TF not?