An alert on my iPhone said it was burning. It’s just a building but I dropped what I was doing at work to look for additional details hoping it was just a small fire. How could a church made of so much stone burn? Surely it must not be bad? Text messages from a French friend and German friend start to come in. “Are you watching?” Disbelief and frantic searching for photos on my phone and in my computer to jog my memory as to how much of the facility was wood. People of Paris start to gather and the world watches. This church doesn’t only belong to the French. It belongs to the hearts of everyone who has visited, read about it, seen photos, or practiced it’s teachings. Hearts broke as the tower fell. Please don’t let it be terrorism. I couldn’t take that and was saddened that my mind even went there. All of the relics. The glass work. The lamps. The ORGAN. The woodwork. There would be no way to save the woodwork. Please please save the magnificent front doors. Later stories of heroism emerge along with stories of waste and politics like usual. And now it rains and it is in danger again. I look back at photos and remember the service I took there while last in Paris where I heard the unmistakable sound of the organ paired with Gregorian choir making a sound only the heavens could create. A beautiful noise. Now, I only hope it will be restored so I can take my son to see it some day and with any luck hear the original organ and view the original woodwork, flooring, etc. It has survived this many years and I am confident it will rise proudly again for the people of Paris, for the people of France, and for the rest of the world who it belongs to in spirit.
Bulldog Travels / Photos By Jenny 
While i do respect the sentiments and can understand the feelings here, there is also the ‘other side’…
Human things are not meant to be eternal and last forever, things have a time and a place…. and an end.
Life renews and evolves, it rarely ever ‘replaces’.
The amount of money pledged for restoration is both mind-boggling and amazing in terms of the rapidity with which it flooded in, and yet it is a pity that so much is to be spent on (re-)building a building when so much is needed to save human lives. (In France, but moreso in other places)
It seems like things of stone and wood are more important than starving and under-nourished children, or those blind from things simple and cheap surgery would fix or ill from diseases that fresh water would eliminate.
Disasters seem to attract donations from all sources but some disasters seem to be more worthy than others, particularly the daily ones.
It’s all a bit of a pickle. 😦
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They are excellent points you make and ones I have also heard over on my end of the world. It is true the money is needed elsewhere more. I imagine it never would have gone those places. Good point about the disasters too. Thanks for the comment.
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You’re welcome. 🙂
I imagine you are right.
I wonder what the response would have been had the fire have occured while the cathedral was full and many people died. What would the plan be then? To rebuild it as it was? Build a totally new one as a shrine? Or left as a reminder/memorial?
It will only cost a couple of billion to fix – they spend more than that building a Mega Ocean Liner… or on the opening weekend of the latest Marvel movie.
It’s not like the money is needed elsewhere, … really. 💔
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Things that lift the soul and inspire us are what make us humans. Notre Dame is/was one such place.
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A lovely post Jenny. Merci beaucoup. It will rise from its ashes. 🙂
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(Glad you found those photos in your files. Actually it’s been a while since I last entered. So it refreshed my memory)
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That was part of the reason I was looking for them because I couldnt remember just how much was inside and there is a LOT. It is a very large church with much on display. I did not remember all of the ornate woodworking and hope most of that survived. In looking at the photos I believe it did same with the stained glass and the organ per reports. But, who knows? It’s too soon to tell really because of water damage and the fact it is an open ceiling right now.
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All churches in Paris (and elsewhere) are veritable museums. Paintings, woodwork, statues… I believe most was saved. The stainde glass in particular had survived WWII. They packed sandbags all the way to the top on the both sides… Now I understand they will be taken down and cleaned and restored.
I hear tarpaulin has been placed over the entire roof. So there should be no rain pouring in. 🙂
Again a great post.
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