Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, Devastating Fire!

https://www.aish.com/ci/s/Notre-Dames-Surprising-Jewish-Treasures.html?s=mpw
Notre Dame’s Surprising Jewish Treasures
Apr 15, 2019  |  by Dr. Yvette Alt MillerNotre Dame’s Surprising Jewish Treasures
The destroyed cathedral still retains priceless art depicting Jewish heritage in France.
The world was transfixed on the devastating images of flames and clouds of acrid smoke spewing from the burning roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris. As Notre Dame burned, the charred ruin now missing its spire and roof, people around the globe stood with France feeling this loss of an irreplaceable religious and cultural icon.

Notre Dame dates from the 12th century and provides a snapshot of what life was like eight centuries ago. When it was built, the vast majority of the population was illiterate; many people lived in what today would seem like abject poverty. Many of the elaborate friezes, statues and stained glass windows served an educational function, illustrating Biblical and other religious stories and seeking to impart messages to the Christians of Medieval Paris. Surprisingly, some of the most prominent artwork on Notre Dame concerned Jews.

Above the cathedral’s main doorway is a frieze, or raised carving, of two Christian saints: Anne and Joachim, who are thought to be the grandparents of Jesus. Since these individuals were Jewish, the artist used actual local Jews as models.

Jews were barely tolerated. King Philip II expelled Jews from France in 1182, but within a few years Jews began to trickle back into the country, settling in several cities and towns, including Paris. Their activities were severely restricted: the Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III in 1215, banned Jews from all professions in Europe except for pawn broking and selling old clothes. In addition, Jews were forced to wear special ridiculous clothes that differentiated them from Christians.

We know what special garments the Jews in Paris wore because their likenesses have adorned Notre Dame Cathedral for 800 years. The Jewish wedding guests in the frieze are dressed in long robes and wearing tall pointy hats.

On the left, the frieze shows Anne and Joachim’s wedding and is a seemingly faithful reproduction of a Medieval French synagogue. The rabbi conducting the ceremony is wrapped in a tallit. Nearby is an ark containing the Torah, a pile of books and a Ner Tamid, the lamp that remains eternally lit in synagogues.

On the right, the frieze depicts Anne and Joachim bringing an offering to a synagogue; the artist even carved a Torah scroll resting on a bima. Nearby is the likeness of two Medieval Jews, deep in conversation in the synagogue.

At the time this frieze was being carved, Jews were relentlessly persecuted in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. In 1239, Pope Gregory IX sent letters to church leaders, as well as to the kings of England, Spain and Portugal, enumerating dozens of charges against the Talmud. This led to calls to collect and destroy this Jewish holy work. Nowhere was this horrendous instruction carried out with as much zeal as in Paris. On March 3, 1240, church officials burst into synagogues throughout France. It was a Shabbat and synagogues were full. France’s helpless Jews watched as their holy volumes of the Talmud were confiscated and taken away.

French King Louis IX called for the Talmud to be put on trial. Four rabbis defended the Jewish holy books from a series of accusations; unsurprisingly, the Rabbis were found to have lost and the Talmud was condemned to be burned. On June 17, 1242, church officials brought 24 wagons piled high with volumes of the Talmud, about 10,000 books in all - all known copies of the Talmud then in existence in France - to Paris’ Place de Greve, next to Notre Dame. There, they were publicly burned.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, known as the Maharam, witnessed the burning. He penned a haunting lamentation afterwards, recording that “My tears formed a river that reached to the Sinai desert and to the graves of Moshe and Aharon. Is there another Torah to replace the Torah which you have taken from us?”

Synagoga and Ecclesia above the portico of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
Two prominent statues on the facade of Notre Dame captured the feelings of Christians and Jews at this time. On the right, one woman stands ragged defeated, her eyes are covered by a snake and her head is bowed. She holds a broken scepter and tablets of Jewish law are slipping from her grasp. Under her feet lies a crown trodden into the dust: she is “Synagoga”, representing the synagogue or Judaism in general.

The Catholic Church wanted those entering Notre Dame to believe that Judaism was finished, downcast and humiliated. On her left is a finely dressed woman standing upright, carrying a chalice and a staff with a cross at its peak, seemingly triumphant. She is known as Ecclesia, representing the victorious Catholic Church.

So important were these allegories of Christian dominance and Jewish humiliation that when the originals were destroyed during the French Revolution, they were recreated and replaced in the 1800s.

Above them is yet another depiction of Jews: the Gallery of Kings, featuring 28 kings of ancient Judah and Israel. These too were replaced after being smashed during the Revolution.

In 1306, King Philip III of France took a drastic step. He was short of funds and decided to seize the belongings and assets of the Jews in his kingdom. This was not an unprecedented step: Jews in Medieval Europe were, in the Latin phrase of the time, servi camerae mosrae, or servants of the chamber of the king. As property, they were the king’s to do with as he saw fit.

On July 22, 1306, the day after the Jewish somber holiday of Tisha B’Av, 100,000 Jews were arrested throughout France and forced into prison. There, they were told they were sentenced to exile; each Jew was permitted to bring only the clothes they were wearing and the very small sum of 12 sous each. In the ensuing months, King Philip III auctioned off the Jews’ property. His order of expulsion was reversed by his son King Louis X, but then reinstated in 1322. Only centuries later was it safe for Jews to once again live in France, as the territory of the expanding French kingdom grew to include areas where French Jews had fled and established new communities.

As French officials survey the wreckage of Notre Dame, it’s becoming clear that the front facade of the cathedral is largely intact. These irreplaceable artistic treasures depicting the history of Jews in France seem to be saved. They can teach us a great deal about Jewish history and fortitude in France and beyond.

Heart-broken husband says he has 'lost my best friend in the world' as he confirms IT worker wife is the final British victim of Sri Lankan atrocity
Lorraine Campbell, from Manchester, has been named as last British victim
Husband Neil Evans said she was 'a real tour de force' and his 'best friend' 
Son Mark Campbell said she remarried after finding 'everything she wanted' in Neil
By INDERDEEP BAINS and NEIL SEARS FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 14:56, 24 April 2019 | UPDATED: 14:56, 24 April 2019
An IT director has been confirmed as the final British victim caught up in the Sri Lanka terror attacks after a suicide bomber detonated a device in her hotel. 
Lorraine Campbell, 55, from Manchester, was killed while having breakfast at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo on Sunday morning.
Her devastated husband Neil Evans confirmed she was among the 359 dead in the co-ordinateds attack today, calling her his 'best friend in the world'.
Mr Evans said: 'Lorraine was a real tour de force, she epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.
'I've lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.
IT director Lorraine Campbell, 55, from Manchester, has been confirmed as the final British victim caught up in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday
Her devastated husband Neil Evans, who married the mother-of-one in February, said she was his 'best friend in the world' +7
'I, Lorraine's family and friends are in a state of disbelief and grief for what has happened and as such, would respectfully ask that our privacy at this difficult time is respected.'
The mother-of-one, who was known as Loz and living in Dubai, was last seen alive on CCTV footage having breakfast with colleague Juno Srivastava at the hotel’s Taprobane restaurant.  
Her son Mark Campbell, 32, told the Mail last night: ‘I have been told it is her although she has got to be formally identified. I know it is my mum. She has been taken from us in a terrible way.’ 
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6955223/Sri-Lanka-terror-attack-Heart-broken-husband-says-lost-best-friend-world.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small



An innocent baby killed by savage cruelty: Weeping relatives mourn eight-month-old victim of Sri Lanka terror attack
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT  
Baby Mathew and his grandmother Agnes Vnikpridha both died in the attacks
They were placed next to one another as relatives gathered to pay their respects 
The pair died after a bomber targeted St Sebastian's Church in Negombo
By JESSICA GREEN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:54, 24 April 2019 | UPDATED: 13:06, 24 April 201
View comments
Distraught relatives have attended the funeral of an eight-month-old boy who was killed during the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday. 
Baby Mathew and his grandmother Agnes Vnikpridha, 69, both died during the suicide bombings which killed at least 359 people, including 45 children.
The pair were placed next to each other as family members gathered to pay their respects outside St Sebastian's Church in Negombo, where they both died following a blast. 
People stand near the coffin of Agnas Vnikpridha, 69, and the body of her eight-month-old grandson Mathew, both victims of the bombing at St Sebastian's Church, in Negombo +13
The body of eight-month-old victim Mathew is seen in Negombo, three days after the string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels +13
Disna Srimali, 37, the injured mother of eight-month-old Mathew, was consoled by relatives as she wept uncontrollably next to her little boy's open coffin +1
Family members mourn at the funeral of eight-month-old Mathew and his grandmother +13
The Archbishop of Colombo said at least 110 people died in the St Sebastian's blast, the deadliest in the series of attacks against churches and luxury hotels.
Disna Srimali, 37, the injured mother of eight-month-old Mathew, was consoled by relatives as she wept uncontrollably next to her little boy's open coffin. 
RELATED ARTICLES
US warns there are 'ongoing terrorist plots' in Sri Lanka,...
Was Sri Lanka suicide bomber radicalised in BRITAIN?...
Chilling footage of Shangri-La terror attack: ISIS bombers...
ISIS member WARNED he had trained Sri Lankan bomb mastermind...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Surrounding the grandmother's and her grandson's coffins, other family and friends stood aghast and silent. 
The coffins were carried into the church grounds one-by-one, and then to a newly established cemetery on church land.
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6954807/Weeping-relatives-mourn-eight-month-old-victim-Sri-Lanka-terror-attack.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

Official: Sri Lanka failed to heed warnings of Islamic terror attacks
 April 22, 2019
Official: Sri Lanka failed to heed warnings of Islamic terror attacksRelatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 21, 2019. (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)
The coordinated bombings that ripped through churches and luxury hotels were carried out by seven suicide bombers from a terrorist group named National Thowfeek Jamaath, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.
By Associated Press
Sri Lankan officials failed to heed warnings from intelligence agencies about the threat of an attack by a domestic radical Muslim group that officials blame for Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 200 people, the country’s health minister said Monday.
The coordinated bombings that ripped through churches and luxury hotels were carried out by seven suicide bombers from a terrorist group named National Thowfeek Jamaath, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.
International intelligence agencies warned of the attacks several times starting April 4, Senaratne said. On April 9, the defense ministry wrote to the police chief with intelligence that included the group’s name, he said. On April 11, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division, he added.
It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken in response. Authorities said little was known about the group except that its name had appeared in intelligence reports.
Because of political dysfunction within the government, Seranatne said, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet were kept in the dark about the intelligence until after the attacks.
President Maithrela Sirisena, who was out of the country at the time of the attacks, ousted Wickremesinghe in late October and dissolved the Cabinet. The Supreme Court eventually reversed his actions, but the prime minister has not been allowed into meetings of the Security Council since October.
All of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens, but authorities suspect foreign links, Senaratne said.
MORE https://worldisraelnews.com/official-sri-lanka-failed-to-heed-warnings-of-islamic-terror-attacks/?

Billionaire ASOS owner Anders Holch Povlsen has lost three of his four children in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Povlsen is the second largest private landowner in the UK and is the biggest shareholder in the online retailer.   

Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a holiday snap of her siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool.
It is not yet known which of Povlsen's four children have died
Povlsen, 46, is married to Anne Storm Pedersen. The pair met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. 

He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain Bestseller when he was just 28 years old.

Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. 
Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks.  
No group has claimed responsibility but cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said the attacks were carried out with the help of an international network.
He said: 'We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.' 
Sri Lankan police previously pointed towards Islamist group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), who were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks, as being responsible.
Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a snap of her three siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool. It is not yet known which of Povlsen's three children have died +17

Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain when he was just 28 years old +17
Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo +17
Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together left, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together right, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo
Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. Pictured: the interior of St Sebastian's church in Negombo +17
Alex Nicholson, 11, left, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, right. Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks
Alex (left) and Anita (second left) were killed in the blast. Ben Nicholson (right) is reported to be in 'complete shock' having received minor injuries
A map showing where the eight blasts went off yesterday, six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning +17
RELATED ARTICLES
Previous
'He touched my granddaughter's head': Survivors describe how...
Tourists in Sri Lanka are 'at risk from further terror...
Could the bombings in Sri Lanka have been prevented?...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Povlsen has 11 Scottish estates, and a castle, covering an astonishing 221,000 acres. He is Britain’s biggest private landowner, surpassing the Dukes of Atholl with 144,000 acres and the Prince of Wales, who owns 130,000 acres.
He began building this ever-growing property portfolio 12 years ago, in the autumn of 2006, with the £7.9 million acquisition of Glenfeshie, a 42,000-acre patch of the Cairngorms National Park. 
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

At least 290 people were killed and 500 wounded after eight explosions rocked luxury hotels and churches 
Eight British nationals, including two holding dual UK-US nationality, among the dead Sri Lankan officials say 
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 
By JOEL ADAMS and CHRIS DYER FOR MAILONLINE and AFP and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 21:09, 21 April 2019 | UPDATED: 16:35, 22 April 2019
CCTV footage captured the moment one of the suicide bombers in Sri Lanka walked into a church just moments before detonating a device, Indian media has claimed.

The chilling footage, which reportedly shows one of the attackers entering St Sebastian's Church, shows a man wearing a large backpack walking into the building.
A large queue of people can be seen waiting outside ahead of the attack on Easter Sunday in the clip from the Indian channel TV 9.

The news comes after a van exploded near another church hit by suicide bombers in the co-ordinated attacks which killed 290 people.

Dramatic footage shows the vehicle erupting into a fireball around 50 metres from the St Anthony's Shrine, one of three churches targeted in a string of suicide bombs on Sunday that killed 290 people. 

The news comes as Sri Lankan authorities blamed the co-ordinated attacks on a little-known Islamist group with links to international terrorists.

Seven suicide bombers launched attacks on churches and five-star hotels, killing hundreds and injuring more than 500 people. 

National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), an extremist Muslim group, are said to be behind the attacks, with Sri Lankan officials saying they received an intelligence warning ten days before. 

Sri Lankan police also found 87 bomb detonators at the main bus station in the capital city today.  

Meanwhile survivors of one of the church bombings have described how a suicide bomber calmly walked past worshippers and even touched a child on the head moments before the blast. 

One survivor, Dilip Fernando said his family were at the St Sebastian's church when the bomber struck in Sri Lanka's seaside town of Negombo at around 7.30am on Easter Sunday. 
VIDEO  This CCTV footage reportedly shows the moment one of the suicide bombers walks into a church in Sri Lanka before detonating a device on Easter Sunday
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6945319/Pictured-British-lawyer-mother-son-killed-Easter-Sunday-Sri-Lanka-bomb-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small


Billionaire ASOS owner Anders Holch Povlsen has lost three of his four children in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Povlsen is the second largest private landowner in the UK and is the biggest shareholder in the online retailer.   

Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a holiday snap of her siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool.
It is not yet known which of Povlsen's four children have died
Povlsen, 46, is married to Anne Storm Pedersen. The pair met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. 

He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain Bestseller when he was just 28 years old.

Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. 
Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks.  
No group has claimed responsibility but cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said the attacks were carried out with the help of an international network.
He said: 'We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.' 
Sri Lankan police previously pointed towards Islamist group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), who were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks, as being responsible.
Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a snap of her three siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool. It is not yet known which of Povlsen's three children have died +17

Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain when he was just 28 years old +17
Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo +17
Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together left, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together right, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo
Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. Pictured: the interior of St Sebastian's church in Negombo +17
Alex Nicholson, 11, left, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, right. Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks
Alex (left) and Anita (second left) were killed in the blast. Ben Nicholson (right) is reported to be in 'complete shock' having received minor injuries
A map showing where the eight blasts went off yesterday, six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning +17
RELATED ARTICLES
Previous
'He touched my granddaughter's head': Survivors describe how...
Tourists in Sri Lanka are 'at risk from further terror...
Could the bombings in Sri Lanka have been prevented?...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Povlsen has 11 Scottish estates, and a castle, covering an astonishing 221,000 acres. He is Britain’s biggest private landowner, surpassing the Dukes of Atholl with 144,000 acres and the Prince of Wales, who owns 130,000 acres.
He began building this ever-growing property portfolio 12 years ago, in the autumn of 2006, with the £7.9 million acquisition of Glenfeshie, a 42,000-acre patch of the Cairngorms National Park. 
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small





https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6945319/Pictured-British-lawyer-mother-son-killed-Easter-Sunday-Sri-Lanka-bomb-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
The moment 'Sri Lankan suicide bomber walks into church with his device in a huge backpack' moments before detonating it in Islamist attacks that killed 290 people
Footage reportedly shows one of the attackers entering St Sebastian's Church before explosion yesterday  
Sri Lankan authorities have blamed the little-known Islamist group the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ)
Government say the deadly attacks were carried out with the help of an 'international network' of terrorists
Comes as a van exploded outside a church as bomb squad tried to defuse it near where many were killed
Survivors of one of the Sri Lanka church bombings have described how an attacker calmly waked past them 
He said a 'very young and innocent' man who he believed to be a bomber touched his granddaughter's head  
At least 290 people were killed and 500 wounded after eight explosions rocked luxury hotels and churches 
Eight British nationals, including two holding dual UK-US nationality, among the dead Sri Lankan officials say 
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 
By JOEL ADAMS and CHRIS DYER FOR MAILONLINE and AFP and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 21:09, 21 April 2019 | UPDATED: 16:35, 22 April 2019
CCTV footage captured the moment one of the suicide bombers in Sri Lanka walked into a church just moments before detonating a device, Indian media has claimed.

The chilling footage, which reportedly shows one of the attackers entering St Sebastian's Church, shows a man wearing a large backpack walking into the building.
A large queue of people can be seen waiting outside ahead of the attack on Easter Sunday in the clip from the Indian channel TV 9.

The news comes after a van exploded near another church hit by suicide bombers in the co-ordinated attacks which killed 290 people.

Dramatic footage shows the vehicle erupting into a fireball around 50 metres from the St Anthony's Shrine, one of three churches targeted in a string of suicide bombs on Sunday that killed 290 people. 

The news comes as Sri Lankan authorities blamed the co-ordinated attacks on a little-known Islamist group with links to international terrorists.

Seven suicide bombers launched attacks on churches and five-star hotels, killing hundreds and injuring more than 500 people. 

National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), an extremist Muslim group, are said to be behind the attacks, with Sri Lankan officials saying they received an intelligence warning ten days before. 

Sri Lankan police also found 87 bomb detonators at the main bus station in the capital city today.  

Meanwhile survivors of one of the church bombings have described how a suicide bomber calmly walked past worshippers and even touched a child on the head moments before the blast. 

One survivor, Dilip Fernando said his family were at the St Sebastian's church when the bomber struck in Sri Lanka's seaside town of Negombo at around 7.30am on Easter Sunday. 
VIDEO  This CCTV footage reportedly shows the moment one of the suicide bombers walks into a church in Sri Lanka before detonating a device on Easter Sunday
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6945319/Pictured-British-lawyer-mother-son-killed-Easter-Sunday-Sri-Lanka-bomb-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small


Billionaire ASOS owner Anders Holch Povlsen has lost three of his four children in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Povlsen is the second largest private landowner in the UK and is the biggest shareholder in the online retailer.   

Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a holiday snap of her siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool.
It is not yet known which of Povlsen's four children have died
Povlsen, 46, is married to Anne Storm Pedersen. The pair met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. 

He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain Bestseller when he was just 28 years old.

Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. 
Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks.  
No group has claimed responsibility but cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said the attacks were carried out with the help of an international network.
He said: 'We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.' 
Sri Lankan police previously pointed towards Islamist group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), who were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks, as being responsible.
Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a snap of her three siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool. It is not yet known which of Povlsen's three children have died +17

Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. He is Denmark's richest man, with his father passing down ownership of the international clothes retailer chain when he was just 28 years old +17
Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo +17
Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together left, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller. Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, pictured together right, as they ate breakfast in the Shangri La in Colombo
Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. Pictured: the interior of St Sebastian's church in Negombo +17
Alex Nicholson, 11, left, was killed with his mother Anita, 42, right. Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks
Alex (left) and Anita (second left) were killed in the blast. Ben Nicholson (right) is reported to be in 'complete shock' having received minor injuries
A map showing where the eight blasts went off yesterday, six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning +17
RELATED ARTICLES
Previous
'He touched my granddaughter's head': Survivors describe how...
Tourists in Sri Lanka are 'at risk from further terror...
Could the bombings in Sri Lanka have been prevented?...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Povlsen has 11 Scottish estates, and a castle, covering an astonishing 221,000 acres. He is Britain’s biggest private landowner, surpassing the Dukes of Atholl with 144,000 acres and the Prince of Wales, who owns 130,000 acres.
He began building this ever-growing property portfolio 12 years ago, in the autumn of 2006, with the £7.9 million acquisition of Glenfeshie, a 42,000-acre patch of the Cairngorms National Park. 
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6946353/Three-billionaire-ASOS-tycoons-children-killed-Sri-Lanka-terror-attacks.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6930225/Mother-spots-Jesus-flames-Notre-Dame.html
Social media is awash with people saying they can see Jesus in the flames of Notre Dame after mother 'spots it in photograph'
Lesley Rowan claims she can 'see Jesus' in the flames of Notre-Dame Cathedralocial media is awash with people saying they can see Jesus in the flames of Notre Dame after mother 'spots it in photograph'
The 38-year-old, from Scotland, said she hopes the image will bring 'comfort'
Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed in a blaze on Monday evening in Paris 
By JESSICA GREEN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 01:46, 17 April 2019 | UPDATED: 09:11, 17 April 2019
View comments
The outline of Jesus Christ seemed to appear in the devastating flames which engulfed the Parisian Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening, one woman has claimed.

Lesley Rowan, from Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, was reading about the tragic incident when she claims to have noticed in one of the pictures a figure in the billowing smoke.

Taking to social media to share her thoughts, Lesley explained that she believed the silhouette to be of God's son, pointing outwards from the inferno sweeping through the historic 850-year-old building.

+6
 The outline of Jesus Christ appeared in the devastating flames which engulfed the Parisian Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday evening, one woman has claimed

Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday

'I may be letting my mind play tricks on me here, folks take a close look at this picture and what do you see,' the 38-year-old posted to her Facebook, alongside a circled picture of the cathedral.
Here, we outline the 'Christ-like figure' Lesley Rowan spotted 
Lesley was amazed to see she she says is the figure of Jesus in the Notre Dame flames
Lesley was quickly inundated with social media users who also believed they could see the outline of Jesus within the roaring flames.
'When I looked at this photo last night, I was really astounded by what I saw. When I look at it I see a silhouette of Jesus. I really see a vivid image,' Lesley explained to the Daily Record.
Lesley was amazed to see she she says is the figure of Jesus in the Notre Dame flames
Lesley was quickly inundated with social media users who also believed they could see the outline of Jesus within the roaring flames.
'When I looked at this photo last night, I was really astounded by what I saw. When I look at it I see a silhouette of Jesus. I really see a vivid image,' Lesley explained to the Daily Record.
MORE https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6930225/Mother-spots-Jesus-flames-Notre-Dame.html

ISIS propaganda celebrates burning  Notre Dame Cathedral
April 16, 2019
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/isis-celebrates-burning-cathedral.htm?
ISIS propaganda celebrates burning of Notre Dame Cathedral
Image Source: Video Screenshot
As people across the world mourned the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral Monday, ISIS celebrated.
Just days before Easter, an ISIS-affiliated group hailed the destruction of the historic monument to Christ as “retribution and punishment” and circulated a poster of the burning cathedral with a mocking message, “Bonne Journée,” French for “Have a nice day.”

Firefighters put out the fire Tuesday. The roof and spire were destroyed, but miraculously, the building was saved from total destruction.

Nevertheless, Parisians and people across the world were left devastated at the destruction of the most famous Gothic cathedral in the world and an irreplaceable symbol of Paris, Christendom and Western civilization. The fire was doubly devastating to many Catholics, as it occurred in the middle of Holy Week, just days before Easter.
ISIS group celebrates Notre Dame disaster
But the pain felt by Westerners was a reason for rejoicing for a group of radical jihadists. Al-Muntasir Media, an Islamic State propaganda group, shared a poster in French of the burning cathedral online with the words, “Have a nice day,” the Daily Mail reported, citing a counter-terrorism group, The Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. The ISIS group said the blaze was “retribution and punishment” and added: “Its [Notre Dame’s] construction began in 1163 and ended in 1345. It’s time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.”
TRACterrorism.org
@TRACterrorism
 (Poster) Muntasir Media (Unofficial #IslamicState): #NotreDame Burns #Paris, #France https://bit.ly/2XedE4D 
3:01 AM - Apr 16, 2019
See TRACterrorism.org's other Tweets
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The fire set off some speculation of arson amid recent reports of vandalism targeting Catholic churches across France. It also recalled a terror scare outside Notre Dame in 2016 when three women were arrested for a terror plot near the cathedral, although they were not targeting the church.
Al-Muntasir has shared propaganda celebrating terror attacks in France in the past. While the group celebrated Notre Dame’s destruction, it did not claim any involvement in the incident, and authorities have ruled out arson and terrorism, at least for now.
Paris prosecutors have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, which they are treating as an accident. Investigators want to talk to renovators who were working on an extensive project to restore the cathedral. The blaze is thought to be connected with the 20-year renovation project.
World mourns as fire devastates Notre Dame
Two fire alarms went off on Monday evening. The first, at 6:20 p.m., prompted a fire check that did not discover a fire. The blaze wasn’t found until another check 23 minutes later discovered a fire on the roof.
The fire spread around the renovation area, which contained 500 tons of wood, to the top of the building. Onlookers in Paris and around the world watched in horror as the cathedral’s spire was engulfed in flames and collapsed, sending puffs of smoke into a sky lit with an infernal orange. Dramatic aerial shots showed the roof totally gone as the fire raged within the church.
The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
 IMAGE: Notre Dame Cathedral burning

5,496
9:27 PM - Apr 15, 2019
4,020 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Parisians kept a vigil over their beloved church with prayers and hymns through the night, as thousands amassed along the banks of the Seine around the Île de la Cité, the island where the cathedral is located. Some 400 firefighters raced to put out the fire, and by Tuesday morning, the flames were extinguished. Miraculously, the cathedral was still standing. One firefighter and two policemen were injured.

Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet declared the church saved Monday night, but the spire and two-thirds of the roof were destroyed. What was left gave reason for hope. Much of its priceless art, including its three stained-glass rose windows, is believed to be safe. The cathedral’s bell towers are also intact, and relics like the Crown of Thorns, said to have been worn by Christ on the cross, were rescued. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, rushed inside the Cathedral to save the artifact.

Moving images of Parisian firefighters entering the cathedral, with the golden cross gleaming untouched from the altar, circulated through social media. The images appear to show much of the inside of the church, including the nave, wooden pews, and altar, intact. However, rubble was left scattered on the floor from the collapsed roof, and there are massive holes in the vaulted ceiling.

Some artifacts had been previously removed by renovators days before the fire, including statues of the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists. But sadly, the “forest” of timber that formed the church’s roof has been destroyed. A  culture expert said that France no longer has trees big enough to replace the more than 800-year-old timber that formed its ancient roof.

A nation in mourning looks to rebuild
The fire brought a rare moment of unity for embattled president Emmanuel Macron, as he launched a funding campaign and issued a call to rebuild the precious cathedral with the world’s “greatest talent.” Donations are pouring in from billionaires, local governments, and ordinary people wanting to help. Experts estimate that it may decades to rebuild the 12th-century Gothic Cathedral, which took almost two hundred years to build.

“The worst has been avoided, although the battle has not yet been totally won,” Macron said.

With its gargoyles and flying buttresses, Notre Dame is the most famous Gothic cathedral in the world and one of the most cherished works of architecture in civilization. At more than 800 years old, it has survived plagues, revolutions, and two world wars.

That such a magnificent building was almost destroyed by a random, and seemingly preventable, fire after so many centuries left Parisians and people around the world bewildered and distraught. On Tuesday morning, Parisians gathered to view what remained of the beloved cathedral. For some, there was a glimmer of hope amidst the destruction.

“The ceiling was known as the ‘the forest’ because of all the thousands of trees that were cut to build it. I feel very sad but also I am happy that most of the building is still there,” a Parisian art historian said.

Accident Or Intentional? Notre Dame Speculation Abounds
image: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/images/recent/notredameapril172019.jpg

News Image BY MICHAEL SNYDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG APRIL 17, 2019
Share this article:
   
The entire world was absolutely shocked by the massive fire that engulfed the Notre Dame cathedral on Monday.  We are being told that the structure of the cathedral has been saved, but according to CNN the "entire wooden interior of Notre Dame Cathedral has been lost".  

Now that the initial shock of the fire has subsided, the Internet is buzzing with speculation about the origin of the fire.  In the end, there are only two options.  Either this was an accident, or someone intentionally started the fire.  And if the fire was intentionally started, obviously someone had a motive for doing so.
 
Time columnist Christopher J. Hale set off a firestorm of speculation when he tweeted that a friend who works at the cathedral told him "cathedral staff said the fire was intentionally set"...
Hale deleted the tweet just a few minutes later.
Was he lying about what he had been told?
Coming from a professional journalist, that doesn't seem likely.
Instead, it is much more likely that Hale quickly figured out that he said something that he wasn't supposed to say.

A YouTube video that purportedly contains audio of Muslims celebrating the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral has also sparked a lot of speculation.  But at this point there doesn't appear to be any way to verify the authenticity of the video.

But what we do know is that all of this comes at a time when churches all over France are being attacked.

On March 17th, the second largest church in France erupted in flames, and police later ruled that it was not an accident...

While Notre Dame is undoubtedly the most well-known landmark to be affected, Paris' second largest church, Saint-Sulpice, briefly burst into flames on March 17, the fire damaging doors and stained glass windows on the building's exterior. Police later reported that the incident had not been an accident.

Overall, a dozen Catholic churches were either set on fire or greatly vandalized during one seven day stretch last month...

A dozen Catholic churches have been desecrated across France over the period of one week in an egregious case of anti-Christian vandalism.

The recent spate of church profanations has puzzled both police and ecclesiastical leaders, who have mostly remained silent as the violations have spread up and down France.
image: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/images/ads/TCC_banner1.jpg


http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3133
Last Sunday, marauders set fire to the church of Saint-Sulpice -- one of Paris' largest and most important churches -- shortly after the twelve-o'clock Mass.
And some of the vandalism that was reported during that seven day period was deeply, deeply disturbing...

In Nimes (department of the Gard), near the border with Spain, the church of Notre-Dame des Enfants was desecrated in a particularly odious way, with vandals painting a cross with human excrement, looting the main altar and the tabernacle, and stealing the consecrated hosts, which were discovered later among piles of garbage.

Likewise, the church of Notre-Dame in Dijon, in the east of the country, suffered the sacking of the high altar and the hosts were also taken from the tabernacle, scattered on the ground, and trampled.

Could it be possible that there is a connection between those attacks and the fire that just erupted at the Notre Dame cathedral?

That is a question that any decent investigator would be asking at this point.

We also know that anti-Christian and anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise in France.  Just check out these numbers...

The number of anti-Semitic attacks (541) rose 74 percent from 2017-2018 while anti-Muslim attacks numbered just 100, the lowest since 2010.

Meanwhile in the same period, there were 1063 anti-Christian attacks, a slight increase on the previous year.

Needless to say, radical Islamists are responsible for most of the attacks against Christians and Jews, and the number of Muslims living in the Paris area has greatly increased in recent years...

According to reports, the number of Jews fleeing France for their safety has dramatically increased since 2000.

In one Paris suburb alone - Seine-Saint-Denis - 40 percent of the population is Muslim while 400,000 illegal immigrants also live there.

But in this politically-correct era, we aren't supposed to talk about attacks against Christians, and this is especially true if those attacks are conducted by radical Islamists.

On Monday, even anchors at Fox News had apparently been instructed that any speculation about who started the Notre Dame cathedral fire must be immediately shut down.  These days there is very little difference between Fox News and the other major news networks, and that is very unfortunate.

On another note, I also find it very interesting that at one point on Monday a YouTube algorithm linked the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral with the 9/11 attacks...

A YouTube feature designed to combat misinformation offered some of its own during a major news event Monday: It linked the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The company blamed the mixup on its algorithms. It removed the links on all Notre Dame fire posts after the issue was flagged.

In this day and age, the "spin" is often more important than the actual events themselves.

In the coming days, a tremendous effort will be made to get us to feel a certain way about the Notre Dame cathedral fire.

But what would be so wrong with allowing us to think for ourselves and allowing us to come to our own conclusions?
The Internet was one of the last bastions for global free speech, but now the heavy hand of censorship is descending, and our ability to freely discuss global events is eroding a little bit more with each passing day.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3133#5YXohoqyA2FTplBI.99

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6929191/President-Macron-vows-rebuild-Notre-Dame-FIVE-years.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Notre Dame repair fund reaches a BILLION euros just two days after the fire, as Macron vows to rebuild the cathedral in FIVE years
The French President committed to rebuilding the centuries-old cathedral within five years in a TV address 
Notre Dame which took over a century to build was partially destroyed in an enormous fire on Monday
Macron said the church would be rebuilt 'more beatifully' than before and urged France to 'come together'
France's richest man Bernard Arnault pledged 200 million while Salma Hayek's husband added 100 million 
By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS and GEORGE MARTIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 19:37, 16 April 2019 | UPDATED: 08:39, 17 April 2019
The fund to renovate the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today reached the one billion euro mark as President Emmanuel Macron said the cathedral would be rebuilt in five years.
Just two days after an inferno destroyed the spire of the ancient place of worship, organisers of a restoration appeal said the incredible figure was growing all the time.

Stephane Bern, the TV personality who helped launch the appeal by saying Notre Dame was 'a close friend who almost disappeared' said on Wednesday morning: 'The billion-euro mark of donations was reached during the day.'

Macron said in a televised address on Tuesday night that the cathedral would be rebuilt 'even more beautifully' within the next few years as he urged the French nation to 'come together'.  

Macron spoke to the French nation in a TV address on Tuesday evening to reassure people that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years +8
France's richest man Bernard Arnault (pictured with his wife Hélène in 2014), made an donation of 200 million euros (£172million) – doubling that of Francois-Henri Pinault +8

French multinational companies are among those who have pledged money to restore the medieval cathedral, which was engulfed by flames on Monday following a likely accident in its loft. 

L'Oreal promised 200 million euros (£172.7m) on Tuesday, while the LVMH luxury goods group run by Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, has pledged the same.

Multi-billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault and oil company Total have also pledged 100 million euros (£87m) each.

Other high-profile French donors included the investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere with 10 million euros, and construction magnates Martin and Olivier Bouygues, also with 10 million euros.

Among other firms, the Credit Agricole bank gave five million euros, while US private equity investor Henry Kravis has promised $10 (€8.8) million.

Corporate contributions are expected to climb, with blue-chip firms like Vinci, Michelin and BNP Paribas also saying they were weighing how to participate.

Air France said it would offer free flights to experts brought in to help with Notre-Dame's renovation.
RELATED ARTICLES
Previous
PICTURED: The moment Michelle Obama's idyllic Parisian river...
'Those bells will sound again': Trump invokes 9/11 as he...
Could more have been saved? Toll to Notre Dame's treasure...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Such vast amounts of money mean it is almost certain that Macron's claim the cathedral will be restored to its former glory 'within five years' looks extremely likely.

'We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it,' Macron said in a television address to the nation.  

'It is up to us to change this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project,' he said.

But he also warned: 'Let us not fall into the trap of haste.'

Macron said that the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country that has been riven with divisions.

The sun rising over Notre Dame Cathedral on Wednesday morning as donations towards its renovation soared to one billion euros +8

Francois-Henri Pinault, married to actress Salma Hayak (pictured together in 2015), was the first to make a donation towards the rebuild of the cathedral +8

Another speedy donor to the fund to restore Notre Dame was the Bettencourt family (pictured Jean-Pierre Meyers and his wife Francoise Bettencourt Meyers), who part-own L'Oreal - they've stumped up 200million euros (£172million) +8
Mark (pictured with his wife Melissa) and Oliver Bouygues, who own construction, media and telecom companies, have donated 10million 

'What we saw last night in Paris was our capacity to mobilise and to unite,' the 41-year-old leader said in the solemn address from his office in the presidential palace.

France had over the course of its history seen many towns, ports and churches go up in flames, he said.

'Each time we rebuilt them,' he said, adding that the cathedral inferno had shown that 'our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome.'

Mr Macron's aim to complete the restoration within such a short timeframe was at odds with some experts' estimates that the project would take decades. 

It came as the iconic rooster weathervane that topped the spire of Notre Dame before it was destroyed by fire has been found in the rubble.

In what is being described as 'an absolute miracle', France's Ministry of Culture confirmed that 'the rooster has been saved'.

'It's dented but can be restored,' said a spokesman. 'The fear was that it had been burnt and melted in the fire.'

Shocked crowds watched the rooster fall to the ground on Monday evening as a fire engulfed the cathedral and destroyed its wooden and lead spire.
VIDEO
Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris
Macron said he would be looking to rebuild the church 'even more beautifully than it was before' and urged the nation to come together over the disaster

There was particularly fear for the rooster, because it contains religious relics including one of the 70 thorns of the Holy crown of Jesus Christ, and remnants linked to Saint Denis, the Christian martyr and former bishop of Paris, and Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of the French capital.

According to cathedral guides, the rooster had acted as 'spiritual lightening rod' to protect the Notre Dame faithful.

Jacques Chanut, the president of the French Building Federation, shared a picture of the damaged rooster on Twitter.

'Fire at Notre Dame – the Culture Ministry announces that the rooster on the spire of the cathedral has been found.' 
2 VIDEOS
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6929191/President-Macron-vows-rebuild-Notre-Dame-FIVE-years.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

https://www.aish.com/ci/s/Notre-Dames-Surprising-Jewish-Treasures.html?s=mm
Notre Dame’s Surprising Jewish Treasures
Apr 15, 2019  |  by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
Notre Dame’s Surprising Jewish Treasures
The destroyed cathedral still retains priceless art depicting Jewish heritage in France.

The world was transfixed on the devastating images of flames and clouds of acrid smoke spewing from the burning roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris. As Notre Dame burned, the charred ruin now missing its spire and roof, people around the globe stood with France feeling this loss of an irreplaceable religious and cultural icon.

Notre Dame dates from the 12th century and provides a snapshot of what life was like eight centuries ago. When it was built, the vast majority of the population was illiterate; many people lived in what today would seem like abject poverty. Many of the elaborate friezes, statues and stained glass windows served an educational function, illustrating Biblical and other religious stories and seeking to impart messages to the Christians of Medieval Paris. Surprisingly, some of the most prominent artwork on Notre Dame concerned Jews.

Above the cathedral’s main doorway is a frieze, or raised carving, of two Christian saints: Anne and Joachim, who are thought to be the grandparents of Jesus. Since these individuals were Jewish, the artist used actual local Jews as models.

Jews were barely tolerated. King Philip II expelled Jews from France in 1182, but within a few years Jews began to trickle back into the country, settling in several cities and towns, including Paris. Their activities were severely restricted: the Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III in 1215, banned Jews from all professions in Europe except for pawn broking and selling old clothes. In addition, Jews were forced to wear special ridiculous clothes that differentiated them from Christians.
 
We know what special garments the Jews in Paris wore because their likenesses have adorned Notre Dame Cathedral for 800 years. The Jewish wedding guests in the frieze are dressed in long robes and wearing tall pointy hats.

On the left, the frieze shows Anne and Joachim’s wedding and is a seemingly faithful reproduction of a Medieval French synagogue. The rabbi conducting the ceremony is wrapped in a tallit. Nearby is an ark containing the Torah, a pile of books and a Ner Tamid, the lamp that remains eternally lit in synagogues.

On the right, the frieze depicts Anne and Joachim bringing an offering to a synagogue; the artist even carved a Torah scroll resting on a bima. Nearby is the likeness of two Medieval Jews, deep in conversation in the synagogue.

At the time this frieze was being carved, Jews were relentlessly persecuted in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. In 1239, Pope Gregory I sent letters to church leaders, as well as to the kings of England, Spain and Portugal, enumerating dozens of charges against the Talmud. This led to calls to collect and destroy this Jewish holy work. Nowhere was this horrendous instruction carried out with as much zeal as in Paris. On March 3, 1240, church officials burst into synagogues throughout France. It was a Shabbat and synagogues were full. France’s helpless Jews watched as their holy volumes of the Talmud were confiscated and taken away.

French King Louis IX called for the Talmud to be put on trial. Four rabbis defended the Jewish holy books from a series of accusations; unsurprisingly, the Rabbis were found to have lost and the Talmud was condemned to be burned. On June 17, 1242, church officials brought 24 wagons piled high with volumes of the Talmud, about 10,000 books in all - all known copies of the Talmud then in existence in France - to Paris’ Place de Greve, next to Notre Dame. There, they were publicly burned.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, known as the Maharam, witnessed the burning. He penned a haunting lamentation afterwards, recording that “My tears formed a river that reached to the Sinai desert and to the graves of Moshe and Aharon. Is there another Torah to replace the Torah which you have taken from us?”

Synagoga and Ecclesia above the portico of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
Two prominent statues on the facade of Notre Dame captured the feelings of Christians and Jews at this time. On the right, one woman stands ragged defeated, her eyes are covered by a snake and her head is bowed. She holds a broken scepter and tablets of Jewish law are slipping from her grasp. Under her feet lies a crown trodden into the dust: she is “Synagoga”, representing the synagogue or Judaism in general.

The Catholic Church wanted those entering Notre Dame to believe that Judaism was finished, downcast and humiliated. On her left is a finely dressed woman standing upright, carrying a chalice and a staff with a cross at its peak, seemingly triumphant. She is known as Ecclesia, representing the victorious Catholic Church.

So important were these allegories of Christian dominance and Jewish humiliation that when the originals were destroyed during the French Revolution, they were recreated and replaced in the 1800s.

Above them is yet another depiction of Jews: the Gallery of Kings, featuring 28 kings of ancient Judah and Israel. These too were replaced after being smashed during the Revolution.

In 1306, King Philip III of France took a drastic step. He was short of funds and decided to seize the belongings and assets of the Jews in his kingdom. This was not an unprecedented step: Jews in Medieval Europe were, in the Latin phrase of the time, servi camerae mosrae, or servants of the chamber of the king. As property, they were the king’s to do with as he saw fit.

On July 22, 1306, the day after the Jewish somber holiday of Tisha B’Av, 100,000 Jews were arrested throughout France and forced into prison. There, they were told they were sentenced to exile; each Jew was permitted to bring only the clothes they were wearing and the very small sum of 12 sous each. In the ensuing months, King Philip III auctioned off the Jews’ property. His order of expulsion was reversed by his son King Louis X, but then reinstated in 1322. Only centuries later was it safe for Jews to once again live in France, as the territory of the expanding French kingdom grew to include areas where French Jews had fled and established new communities.

As French officials survey the wreckage of Notre Dame, it’s becoming clear that the front facade of the cathedral is largely intact. These irreplaceable artistic treasures depicting the history of Jews in France seem to be saved. They can teach us a great deal about Jewish history and fortitude in France and beyond.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6926807/Devastating-aftermath-Notre-Dame-inferno-leaves-world-mourning.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Our Lady in ruins: First daylight interior photos reveal aftermath of Notre Dame inferno as criminal probe into cause of fire focuses on restoration experts who were working on spire
Police currently interviewing specialist restorers who were carrying out works on the cathedral's iconic spire
French contractors Le Bras Freres had been tasked with £5million refurbishment at time the blaze broke out
Authorities currently treating blaze as a tragic accident caused by a 'stray flame' and not arson or terrorism
Firefighters battled for eight hours to try and stop the blaze amid fears the entire structure could be toppled 
Dramatic footage showed centuries-old spire crumbling after being severely damaged by the raging inferno 
By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS and ALEXANDER ROBERTSON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 07:15, 16 April 2019 | UPDATED: 10:14, 16 April 2019

Detectives investigating the catastrophic fire which nearly destroyed Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral are currently interviewing specialist restorers who were carrying out works on its iconic spire when the inferno broke out.

French police are understood to have launched a criminal enquiry after a 'stray flame' caused the landmark to become engulfed in fire last night, with heroic firefighters battling for eight hours to bring the blaze under control.

Attention has now turned to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored in a £5million refurbishment, to fall victim to such a disaster, which saw its wooden roof and some of its prized artefacts lost.

The focus of prosecutors is currently on contractors Le Bras Freres, a firm based in Jarny, north-eastern France, which had been working from scaffolding erected as part of the restoration project when the blaze broke out.


Some of its 200 specialist employees were working at the site where the fire is thought to have originated, the cathedral's 300ft-tall wooden and lead spire, which collapsed in front of crowds of horrified Parisians at 8pm.

Late last night, the Paris prosecutor's office said it would carry out an investigation into 'involuntary destruction caused by fire', indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident and not arson or terrorism.

A source close to the enquiry said that many of the restorers had been interviewed overnight, with prosecutors focusing on the equipment used at the 850-year-old cathedral, where light and power sources were limited.

In such circumstances, hordes of cables and wires would have to be attached to dozens of generators, which would then be hoisted high up on to medieval building.

Scroll down for video 

One of the centuries-old was windows apparently still intact on Tuesday morning +107
The stained-glass window at Notre Dame before the blaze +107
Wreckage: The first pictures inside the cathedral on Tuesday morning appear to show at least one of the rose stained-glass windows still intact (left), but debris is covering the floor. Pictured right: the window before the blaze  

The roof was completely burned away +107
Debris on the floor at Notre Dame +107
The wooden roof at Notre Dame (left) was completely burned away - as experts said it could not be replaced in the way it was built in the Middle Ages - while charred debris covered the floor (right) but the bell towers remained intact 

A catastrophic fire at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral (shown this morning) has left a nation mourning the devastation of its cultural and historic 'epicentre' this morning as French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the treasured landmark

Firefighters continue to douse Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with water this morning following a devastating fire that destroyed its roof last night +107
Firefighters continue to douse Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with water this morning following a devastating fire that destroyed its roof last night 

Firefighters at the scene of the fire this morning. The fire was officially declared as extinguished at about 9.45am local time +107

Firefighters, surrounded by the cathedral's iconic gargoyles, take stock of the damage caused by yesterday's devastating fire +107

Hundreds of firefighters battled to stop the fire wreaking complete destruction of the treasured facade (pictured) after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of Parisians +107

The focus of prosecutors is currently on contractors Le Bras Freres (Le Bras Brothers), a company based in Jarny, north-eastern France, which had been working from scaffolding (pictured today) erected as part of the restoration project +107

French police are understood to have launched a criminal enquiry after a 'stray flame' caused the landmark to become engulfed in fire last night, with heroic firefighters battling for eight hours to bring the blaze under control +107

Attention has now turned to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored in a £5million refurbishment, to fall victim to such a disaster, which saw its wooden roof and some of its prized artefacts lost +107

A woman sits and prays near the Notre Dame Cathedral this morning as efforts to dampen down the remainder of the flames continue today +107

Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris this morning in the aftermath of a fire that caused its spire to crash to the ground +107

Video playing bottom right...
Click here to expand to full page
As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno +107

'The fear is that a small fire began in the rood where they were working,' the source added. 'The irony is that the restorers had just begun working on the spire which collapsed along with much of the roof.'

Le Bras Freres is one of the most respected companies of its kind in France, and last year finished a widespread restoration programme of Reims Cathedral in the east of the country.

The firm had won the contract to restore the Notre Dame spire that was designed by the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc and erected in 1859.

They were due to be on site for up to four years along with Europe Scaffolding, another company which had just put 250 tons of scaffolding around Notre Dame, along with a lift that could move up and down the 300ft spire.

On Tuesday morning, Julie Le Bras, the chief executive of the Bras Brothers, said he had no initial comment to make in regards to the enquiry.

The blaze, which broke out as the last crowds of tourists ended visits at around 7pm, was finally declared to be 'fully extinguished' at about 9.45am this morning.

As the fire raged, brave rescue teams raced to recover what treasures they could from the Gothic masterpiece, which housed priceless artefacts and relics of huge religious and international significance.

Among them was the reputed Crown of Thorns, supposedly worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, which was carried to safety be a human chain of emergency service workers. 
SEE LARGE GRAPHIC FOR DETAILS. NOTRE DAME IN NUMBERS
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6926807/Devastating-aftermath-Notre-Dame-inferno-leaves-world-mourning.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

TWO CENTURIES TO BUILD DESTROYED IN 63 MINUTES

'The inferno cannot be stopped': Fire chiefs doubt blaze ravaging Notre Dame cathedral in Paris can be controlled, with spire and entire roof of 850-year-old building already destroyed
Officials in Paris said a large operation had been launched in an attempt to bring the raging fire under control 
Pictures from around the city posted on social media showed flames licking up Notre Dame's famous spire 
The fire was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) on Monday and the building was evacuated soon afterwards 
Authorities say there were no deaths from the fire although declined to comment on the number of injuries 
By GEORGE MARTIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 18:10, 15 April 2019 | UPDATED: 21:25, 15 April 2019
French fire chiefs have warned the devastating inferno which ravaged the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral this evening evening 'cannot be stopped'.  

An official in the French interior ministry said saving the building 'is not certain' after the spire and part of the roof collapsed earlier this evening - adding that it may not be possible to stop the blaze consuming yet more of the structure. 

A spokesman for the cathedral said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.

'Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,' Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world's most famous tourist attractions. 

A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier this evening after the fire chewed through its foundations +57
A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier this evening after the fire chewed through its foundations

Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening

Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church

Smoke continues to billow into the Paris sky this evening as firefighters try to stop the flames from spreading

Photos showed huge plumes of smoke billowing into the city's skyline and flames engulfing large sections of the historic building as firefighters struggled to contain the inferno. 

According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the monument before spreading across the roof. 

Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project. 

A spokesperson for the cathedral said the blaze was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) and the building was evacuated soon after. 

Police said no deaths have been reported although officials did not comment on injuries. 

Video playing bottom right...
Click here to expand to full page
Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire +57
Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire
MORE PICTURES VIDEOS https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6925015/Fire-breaks-historic-Notre-Dame-cathedral-Paris.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small




https://www.timesofisrael.com/catastrophic-fire-engulfs-notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-roof-and-spire-collapse/?utm_source=catastrophic-fire-engulfs-notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-roof-and-spire-collapse&utm_medium=desktop-browser&utm_campaign=desktop-notifications
Firefighters fear burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris can’t be saved
Catastrophic blaze destroys roof and spire of iconic medieval church; Macron: ‘A part of us is burning’
By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF
Today, 9:54 pmUpdated at 10:39 pm  2
755
shares
A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and raising fears over the future of the nearly millennium-old building and its precious artworks.
The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched in horror.
The Paris fire service was not sure it will be able to halt the spread of the fire consuming the roof of Notre-Dame cathedral, a senior fire official at the scene told journalists on Monday night.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP
“It’s not certain we’ll be able to halt the spread toward the northern bell tower. If that collapses, you can imagine the extent of the damage,” General Jean-Claude Gallet said, adding that 400 firefighters were battling the blaze.
Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also speaking at the scene, added that saving the Gothic monument “is not certain.”
The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed, but the cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work to help the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece better deal with the tests of time.
People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The flames and red smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the cathedral, visited by millions of people a year.
AFP news agency

@AFP
 · 2h
Replying to @AFP
Bystanders look on as flame and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris
View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
AFP news agency

@AFP
Flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, which is visited by millions of people a year pic.twitter.com/7QKgFWrCWv
126
7:17 PM - Apr 15, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
 Embedded video
178 people are talking about this
Deputy Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told BFM TV the spire “collapsed inwards” and that workers were scrambling “to save all the artworks that can be saved.”
A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze.
“Everything is burning,” the spokesman for Notre Dame, Andre Finot, said.
The fire service said the blaze could be “potentially linked” to ongoing renovations.
‘Emotion of a nation’
President Emmanuel Macron canceled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening. He headed to the scene in person, the Elysee announced.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (L), and French President Emmanuel Macron (3rd L) gather near the entrance of the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris, as flames engulf its roof on April 15, 2019. (PHILIPPE WOJAZER/POOL/AFP)
In a tweet he expressed the “emotion of a whole nation” on seeing Notre Dame ablaze.
“Like all my compatriots I am sad to see a part of us burn this evening” he said, expressing solidarity with “all Catholics and all French people.”
In a first official Israeli reaction, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Twitter it was “heartbreaking to see this icon of France and world civilization in flames.”
View image on Twitter
Emmanuel Nahshon

@EmmanuelNahshon
 #NotreDame fire - it is heartbreaking to see this icon of #France and world civilization in flames. Solidarity with Paris and France over this terrible tragedy.

111
8:01 PM - Apr 15, 2019
58 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the cathedral a “symbol of European culture.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in a tweet described it as a “terrible fire.”
Vast clouds of grey-white smoke billowed round the cathedral as yellow flames still licked the top of the building.
Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. (Patrick ANIDJAR / AFP)
“The Paris fire service is trying to control the flames,” Hidalgo wrote on Twitter, asking residents to respect the security cordon thrown up around the site.
A spokesperson for the cathedral said the fire, which comes as French Catholics prepare to celebrate Easter, broke out at around 1650 GMT.
Fire trucks could be seen speeding through Paris toward the scene on the Ile de la Cite — an island in the Seine at the heart of Paris.
The Paris police department in a tweet called on residents to avoid the area and to “make way for rescue vehicles.”
‘Horrible to watch’
US President Donald Trump in a tweet said: “So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
 So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!
91.2K
6:39 PM - Apr 15, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
58.2K people are talking about this
Officials responded to Trump’s question by noting that the weight of water falling from airborne vehicles would only speed up the structure’s collapse.
Hundreds of people gathered on the bridges of Paris downriver to witness the scene, some filming the images with their smartphones, an AFP reporter said.
File photo taken on September 18, 2015 shows the cathedral Notre Dame, in Paris. (PATRICK KOVARIK / AFP)
The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work, which last week saw statues lifted from the top of the cathedral.
Built between the years 1163 and 1345, Notre Dame is one of the most popular tourist sites in Paris, drawing around 13 million people every year.
The spire, like the rest of the Gothic edifice, had been undergoing the 11-million-euro ($12.4-million) overhaul financed by the French state to repair damage inflicted by time, pollution and the weather.


WATCH LIVE: Fire engulfs Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, parts of it collapse
Published time: 15 Apr, 2019 17:57
Edited time: 15 Apr, 2019 20:36
Get short URL
WATCH LIVE: Fire engulfs Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, parts of it collapse 
  Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
A fire broke out at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris) in central Paris. Smoke could be seen billowing out from the top of the medieval cathedral, as flames lept out besides its two bell towers.
The spire and roof of the building have collapsed. Hundreds of firefighters are at the scene. French President Emmanuel Macon has scrapped his planned address to the nation amid the “terrible fire”.
Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on fire
WATCH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2oc3D9cQg



https://www.rt.com/news/456614-frances-macron-cancels-planned-address/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=push_notifications
French President Emmanuel Macon has scrapped his planned address to the nation amid the “terrible fire” at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris), which is burning down in Paris.
Macron was set to hold a large press conference at the Elysee palace on Monday. The president was expected to unveil a set of measures for the country in response to the Yellow Vest protest, which have been rocking the country for the past few months.
Macron was set to hold a large press conference at the Elysee Palace on Monday. The president was expected to unveil a set of measures for the country in response to the Yellow Vest protests, which have been rocking the country for the past few months.
ALSO ON RT.COM
'Nothing will remain from frame': Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on fire (PHOTO, VIDEO)
The said measures are believed to be based on the results of the “great national debate,” held by the government in an attempt to funnel protest from the streets into a discussion instead. “We have decided to transform anger into solutions,” Macron wrote on Twitter, announcing the press conference. “For months, we listened. Tomorrow, I will answer.”
The grand unveiling of the government’s measures, however, was marred by the massive fire at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which caught fire shortly before the president’s address. Citing the “terrible fire,” Macron scrapped the event.

Macron is expected to arrive at the scene shortly, according to Elysee officials. Meanwhile, the cathedral’s spire and roof have partially collapsed.
 Embedded video
Patrick Galey

@patrickgaley
 The moment #NotreDame’s spire fell
129K
6:55 PM - Apr 15, 2019 · Paris, France



'The inferno cannot be stopped': Fire chiefs doubt blaze ravaging Notre Dame cathedral in Paris can be controlled, with spire and entire roof of 850-year-old building already destroyed
Officials in Paris said a large operation had been launched in an attempt to bring the raging fire under control 
Pictures from around the city posted on social media showed flames licking up Notre Dame's famous spire 
The fire was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) on Monday and the building was evacuated soon afterwards 
Authorities say there were no deaths from the fire although declined to comment on the number of injuries 
By GEORGE MARTIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 18:10, 15 April 2019 | UPDATED: 21:25, 15 April 2019

     e-mail  
263k
shares
4.5k

View comments

French fire chiefs have warned the devastating inferno which ravaged the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral this evening evening 'cannot be stopped'.  

An official in the French interior ministry said saving the building 'is not certain' after the spire and part of the roof collapsed earlier this evening - adding that it may not be possible to stop the blaze consuming yet more of the structure. 

A spokesman for the cathedral said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too.

'Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,' Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world's most famous tourist attractions. 

A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier this evening after the fire chewed through its foundations +57
A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier this evening after the fire chewed through its foundations

Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening +57
Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening

Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church +57
Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church
Smoke continues to billow into the Paris sky this evening as firefighters try to stop the flames from spreading

Photos showed huge plumes of smoke billowing into the city's skyline and flames engulfing large sections of the historic building as firefighters struggled to contain the inferno.

According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the monument before spreading across the roof. 

Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project. 

A spokesperson for the cathedral said the blaze was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) and the building was evacuated soon after. 

Police said no deaths have been reported although officials did not comment on injuries. 

Video playing bottom right...
Click here to expand to full page
Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire +57
Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire

The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson

The famous spire of Notre Dame collapsed dramatically at around 7.15pm GMT after the blaze tore through the wooden structure at the top of the building

A spokesperson for the cathedral told Le Monde that the entire frame of the historic cathedral's roof (pictured here before the blaze) had caught fire

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a televised speech to the nation because of the stunning blaze and was going to the cathedral himself.

Macron tweeted shortly after the blaze: 'Our Lady of Paris in flames. Emotion of a whole nation. Thoughts go out to all Catholics and all of France. Like all our countrymen, I'm sad tonight to see this part of us burn.'

Macron's pre-recorded speech was set to be aired Monday evening, to lay out his long-awaited answers to the yellow vest crisis that has rocked the country since last November.

Cathedral spokesman Andre Finot told Le Monde: 'Everything is burning. The frame - which dates to the 19th century on one side and the 13th century on the other – there will be nothing left.

'We will have to wait and see whether the vault, which protects the Cathedral, will be touched by the fire on not.' 

Pictures posted on Twitter at 5.50pm (GMT) when the fire broke out showed small plumes of smoke coming from the roof
By 6.20pm the plumes had grown much larger and could be seen from miles around
At 6.30 the first amber licks of flame could be seen at the top of the building
7.15pm the famous spire collapses
Left: Pictures posted on Twitter at 5.50pm (GMT) when the fire broke out showed small plumes of smoke coming from the roof. Centre left: By 6.20pm the plumes had grown much larger and could be seen from miles around. Centre right: At 6.30pm the first amber licks of flame could be seen at the top of the building. Right: 7.00pm the famous spire collapses

Flames chewing through a turret at 6.45pm
The turret completely collapsed hsortly before the spire fell to earth at around 7.00pm
The roof of the cathedral still on fire as the sun went down at 7.30pm
The stained glass window lit up by a blanket of flame at 7.45pm
Left: Flames chewing through a turret at 6.45pm. Centre left: The turret completely collapsed hsortly before the spire fell to earth at around 7.00pm. Centre right: The roof of the cathedral still on fire as the sun went down at 7.30pm. Right: The stained glass window lit up by a blanket of flame at 7.45pm

Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof as they try to stop the flames spreading. Nobody has been injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire' +57
Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof as they try to stop the flames spreading. Nobody has been injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire'

The burning orange of the flames can be seen through the rose petal window this evening as Parisians and tourists look on in horror as the blaze continues to spread at the cathedral

People watch in Paris this evening as the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral continues to swarm the building, as firefighters fight to contain it

The spire collapses while flames are burning through the roof at teh Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today. The blaze started in the late afternoon at one of the most visited monuments in the French capital

The fast moving fire consumed the roof of the cathedral. This evening, President Emmanuel Macron said the whole nation was moved. 'Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,' he tweeted

A lone firefighter on a crane uses a hose to try and extiguish the flames this evening. British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her thoughts for the people of France and emergency services battling a devastating fire this evening

Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the centre of Paris. Firefighters can be seen on the left, fighting the fire

The flames have engulfed large parts of the Cathedral, located in central Paris. A spurt of water can be seen at the bottom right of the picture as firefighters do battle with the blaze this evening. Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project

The spire seen leaning slightly over as it began to give way because of the fire ripping through its foundations and the rest of the roof

One of the turrets on the cathedral before it collapsed +57
The turret after it collapsed +57
One of the turrets on the cathedral before it collapsed (left) at around 7.00pm this evening and afterwards at around 7.30pm

The fire spread rapidly across the roof-line of the cathedral leaving one of the spires and another section of the roof engulfed in flames

Firefighters using cranes to try and stop the blaze +57
The enormous spire on fire earlier this evening +57

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted shortly after the fire broke out that he was sad to see 'a part of us burn' and sent his sympathies to people across France

A visibly upset Emmanual Macron walking near the Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns this evening. The French President postponed an important address to the nation that was to lay out his responses to the yellow vest crisis because of the massive fire

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says firefighters are trying to contain the 'terrible fire' and urged residents of the French capital to stay away from the security perimeter around the Gothic-style church. The mayor says city officials are in touch with Roman Catholic diocese in Paris.   

While deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told BFMTV the thousand-year-old building had suffered 'colossal damage' already.

He added: 'A special mission has been launched to attempt to save all the works of art we can.'

He said the authorities were giving highest priority to securing the area and protecting tourists and residents from the risk of a collapse.'

The cathedral is one the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe, and one of the most visited buildings in the world.

Notre Dame - which means 'Our Lady' - was build in 1160 and completed by 1260, and has been modified on a number of occasions throughout the century.

It is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris, and is visited by some 12million people every year and is the most visited historic monument in Europe.

The cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world's most famous tourist attractions. 

A man puts his hand to his mouth in pure shock as he watches the flames burst from the historic catherdral

A woman reacts with horror as she watches the collosal fire engulf the roof of the Notre Dame. The colossal fire swept through the cathedral causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists looked on in dismay

A woman on the phone looks on at the burning cathedral and smoke billows into the sky. The spire of Paris's famous Notre Dame cathedral has already collapsed earlier this evening

A man holds his hands on his head in despair as the smoke billows from the cathedral this evening as firefighers desperately battle the blaze
Parisians and toursits look on in utter shock as the flames engulf the historic cathedral, which is visited by millions every year

A woman reacts with shock as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris this evening
MORE VIDEOS
123
Watch video Paris fire services fight to put out flames at Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Fire breaks out at historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 
Watch video Smoke billows from Notre Dame after fire engulfs Paris cathedral
Watch video Flames and thick smoke billow from Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Crowds gather as major fire hits Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Police seen at Cornwall holiday park after dog kills ten-year-old
Watch video England's steepest street residents share what living there is like
Watch video Sajid Javid 'understands concern' over Shamima Begum legal aid
Watch video Teenager brutally attacks girl on the Tube after demanding her phone
Watch video Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service attend Newport bus crash
Watch video Brooklyn Beckham spotted on an economy flight heading to LAX
Watch video Theresa May and husband spotted at a service station on the M54

Officials say the blaze could be linked to renovation works as the spire has been undergoing a $6.8million renovation this year


MORE VIDEOS
123
Watch video Paris fire services fight to put out flames at Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Fire breaks out at historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 
Watch video Smoke billows from Notre Dame after fire engulfs Paris cathedral
Watch video Flames and thick smoke billow from Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Crowds gather as major fire hits Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Police seen at Cornwall holiday park after dog kills ten-year-old
Watch video England's steepest street residents share what living there is like
Watch video Sajid Javid 'understands concern' over Shamima Begum legal aid
Watch video Teenager brutally attacks girl on the Tube after demanding her phone
Watch video Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service attend Newport bus crash
Watch video Brooklyn Beckham spotted on an economy flight heading to LAX
Watch video Theresa May and husband spotted at a service station on the M54
The fire on Monday +57
The fire could be seen from miles around +57
The blaze could be seen from across Paris on Monday night as officials in the city said a major operation was in place to put it out

Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold

Enormous plumes of smoke were seen rising from the Cathedral as horrified onlookers gathered in a nearby square +57
Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold

Pictures from across Paris showed the historic cathedral ablaze on Friday evening after the fire reportedly broke out in the building's attic +

RELATED ARTICLES

Vive la Re¿volution! Yellow Vest activists flip portable...

Blackout! Cities around the world plunge into darkness for...

Outrage in France as wine-lovers are told to cut back to two...

Mystery as record 1,100 dolphins wash up on French shores...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share
MORE VIDEOS
123
Watch video Paris fire services fight to put out flames at Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Fire breaks out at historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 
Watch video Smoke billows from Notre Dame after fire engulfs Paris cathedral
Watch video Flames and thick smoke billow from Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Crowds gather as major fire hits Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Police seen at Cornwall holiday park after dog kills ten-year-old
Watch video England's steepest street residents share what living there is like
Watch video Sajid Javid 'understands concern' over Shamima Begum legal aid
Watch video Teenager brutally attacks girl on the Tube after demanding her phone
Watch video Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service attend Newport bus crash
Watch video Brooklyn Beckham spotted on an economy flight heading to LAX
Watch video Theresa May and husband spotted at a service station on the M54
Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe's most-visited historical monument
Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus' head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe's most popular historic monument.

The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent.

It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon's coronation in 1804. 

A view of the middle-age stained glass rosace on the southern side of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral

The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260. 

The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher.

After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century - following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 - flying  buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault.

The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786. 

During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons. 

At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm.

The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres - nearly half the annual expenditure of France. 

The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre.

The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday - which comes at the end of this week.

Notre-Dame de Paris is home to the relic accepted by Catholics the world over cathedral. The holy crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during the Passion +57
Notre-Dame de Paris is home to the relic accepted by Catholics the world over cathedral. The holy crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during the Passion

+57
During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings - wrongly believed to by French monarchs - were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down.

Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building.

It wasn't until the publication of Victor Hugo's novel - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began. 

A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed. 

Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc won the commission. 

By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass. 

This would be updated with modern designs. 

In 1963 France's Culture Minister, André Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed. 

Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archéologique de l'île de la Cité, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day. 

+57
The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell - known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes - is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time. 

At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts. 

It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.  

The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270. 

While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century. 

The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century. 

The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles. 

They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him - with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions. 

During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged. 

One of the cathedral's first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments.

The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross.
MORE VIDEOS
123
Watch video Paris fire services fight to put out flames at Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Fire breaks out at historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 
Watch video Smoke billows from Notre Dame after fire engulfs Paris cathedral
Watch video Flames and thick smoke billow from Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Crowds gather as major fire hits Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
Watch video Police seen at Cornwall holiday park after dog kills ten-year-old
Watch video England's steepest street residents share what living there is like
Watch video Sajid Javid 'understands concern' over Shamima Begum legal aid
Watch video Teenager brutally attacks girl on the Tube after demanding her phone
Watch video Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service attend Newport bus crash
Watch video Brooklyn Beckham spotted on an economy flight heading to LAX
Watch video Theresa May and husband spotted at a service station on the M54
Great buildings ravaged by fire: From Windsor Castle to York Minster
The Windsor Castle fire of November 1992 

A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence.

The Berkshire blaze started at 11am in Queen Victoria's Private Chapel after a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar.

Within minutes the blaze had spread to St George's Hall next door, and the fire would go on to destroy 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms.

Three hours after the blaze was first spotted 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the fire, using 36 pumps to discharge 1.5million gallons of water at the inferno's peak.

The fire break at the other end of St George's Hall remained unbreached, so the Royal Library was fortunately left undamaged.

A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence

Staff worked to remove works of art from the Royal Collection from the path of the fire.

According to the Royal Collection Trust: 'The Castle's Quadrangle was full of some of the finest examples of French 18th-century furniture, paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Gainsborough, Sèvres porcelain and other treasures of the Collection.

'Amazingly, only two works of art were lost in the fire - a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting by Sir William Beechey that couldn't be taken down from the wall in time. Luckily works of art had already been removed from many rooms in advance of rewiring work.'

The Duke of York had said he he heard the fire alarm and roughly two or three minutes later he saw the smoke after leaving the room he was in, according to contemporary reports.
Prince Andrew had joined a group removing valuable works of art from the castle to save them from destruction
The York Minster fire of 1984 
Pictured: Aftermath of the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984

Early in the morning of July 9, 1984, York Minster's south transept was set ablaze, destroying the roof and causing £2.25million worth of damage.

More than 100 firefighters confronted the church fire, taking two hours to bring it to heel.

The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lightning bolt that struck the cathedral shortly after midnight. 

The blaze seriously damaged the cathedral's stonework, along with its famous Rose Window, and firefighters were left tackling embers on the floor after the roof collapsed at 4am.

Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am. 

An investigation ruled out an electrical or gas fault, and arson was discounted due to roof's inaccessibility. Tests had found that the blaze was 'almost certainly' caused by a lightning strike but much of the evidence was destroyed in the fire.

The building was restored in 1988 after masonry teams re-carved stonework above the building's rose window and arches.

It was reported that the rose window, designed to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, reached a temperature of 842F during the incident, cracking the glass in several places before it was restored. 

It was not the first time the building had caught ablaze.

In the early hours of February 1, 1829, Jonathan Martin set the building on fire, melting the lead from the roof and cracking the building's limestone pillars.

Late that afternoon the fire started dying out after roughly 230 feet of choir roof had collapsed.

Non-conformist Martin, a former sailor from Northumberland, did not believe in formal liturgy, had published pamphlets condemning the clergy as 'vipers of Hell'.

He was charged with setting the building on fire, but was found not guilty due to insanity, and died in a London asylum in 1838.

Pictured: The roof of the South Transept of York Minster ablaze at the height of the fire. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am

 
The Great Fire of London 
St Paul’s Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the building collapsed +57
St Paul’s Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the building collapsed

On September 2, 1666, a fire broke out Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane, close to London Bridge. The summer of 1666 had been unusually hot, and the city had not seen rain for several weeks, leaving wooden houses and buildings tinder dry.

Once the fire had taken hold, 300 houses quickly collapsed and strong east winds fanned the flames from house to house, sweeping the blaze through London's winding narrow lanes, with houses positioned close together.

In an attempt to flee the fire by boat, Londoners poured down to the River Thames and the city was overtaken by chaos.

There was no fire brigade in London at the time, so residents themselves had to fight the fire with the help of local soldiers.

They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks, pulling down houses with hooks to make gaps or 'fire breaks', but the wind helped fan the fire across the created gaps.

King Charles II had ordered that houses in the path of the fire should be pulled down - but the fire outstripped the hooked poles that were used to try and achieve this.

By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control.

Gunpowder was deployed to blow up houses that lay in the path's fire, but the sound of explosions triggered rumours of a French invasion, heightening the city's panic.

St Paul’s Cathedral caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the cathedral collapsed.

The fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished by September 6, leaving just one fifth of London untouched.

Almost every civic building had been destroyed, along with 13,000 private homes, 87 parish churches, The Royal Exchange, and Guildhall.

Roughly 350,000 people lived in London just before the Great Fire, making the city one of the largest in Europe.

A monument was erected in Pudding Lane, where the blaze broke out.

By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834) +57
By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834)

The Great Fire of Rome , 64AD
The Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64AD, destroyed much of the city after the blaze began in the slums south of the aristocratic Palatine Hill.

Strong winds fanned the fire north, scorching homes in its path, causing widespread panic during the inferno's three-day duration.

Hundreds died in the conflagration, and thousands were left homeless. Three of the 14 districts were completely destroyed, and only four remained completely untouched.

That Emperor Nero 'fiddled while the city burned' has become popular legend, but is not accurate. The Emperor was 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out and allowed his palace to be used as a shelter. And the fiddle had not yet been invented.

Nero, who used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild the city in a more Greek style, blamed Christians for the fire, ordering the arrest, torture and execution of hundreds of the religion's faithful.
Historian Tacitus said the fire was 'graver and more terrible than any other which had befallen this city.'
Share or comment on this article: Notre Dame fire: Smoke billows out of historic cathedral in Paris 
MORE .https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6925015/Fire-breaks-historic-Notre-Dame-cathedral-Paris.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small



https://www.timesofisrael.com/catastrophic-fire-engulfs-notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-roof-and-spire-collapse/
Firefighters fear burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris can’t be saved
Catastrophic blaze destroys roof and spire of iconic medieval church; Macron: ‘A part of us is burning’
By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF
Today, 9:54 pmUpdated at 10:39 pm  2
A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and raising fears over the future of the nearly millennium-old building and its precious artworks.
The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched in horror
The Paris fire service was not sure it will be able to halt the spread of the fire consuming the roof of Notre-Dame cathedral, a senior fire official at the scene told journalists on Monday night.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP
“It’s not certain we’ll be able to halt the spread toward the northern bell tower. If that collapses, you can imagine the extent of the damage,” General Jean-Claude Gallet said, adding that 400 firefighters were battling the blaze.

Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also speaking at the scene, added that saving the Gothic monument “is not certain.”
The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed, but the cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work to help the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece better deal with the tests of time.
People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The flames and red smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the cathedral, visited by millions of people a year.
AFP news agency

@AFP
 · 2h
Replying to @AFP
Bystanders look on as flame and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
AFP news agency

@AFP
Flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, which is visited by millions of people a year pic.twitter.com/7QKgFWrCWv

126
7:17 PM - Apr 15, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
 Embedded video
178 people are talking about this
Deputy Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told BFM TV the spire “collapsed inwards” and that workers were scrambling “to save all the artworks that can be saved.”
A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze.

“Everything is burning,” the spokesman for Notre Dame, Andre Finot, said.
The fire service said the blaze could be “potentially linked” to ongoing renovations.
‘Emotion of a nation’
President Emmanuel Macron canceled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening. He headed to the scene in person, the Elysee announced.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (L), and French President Emmanuel Macron (3rd L) gather near the entrance of the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris, as flames engulf its roof on April 15, 2019. (PHILIPPE WOJAZER/POOL/AFP)
In a tweet he expressed the “emotion of a whole nation” on seeing Notre Dame ablaze.

“Like all my compatriots I am sad to see a part of us burn this evening” he said, expressing solidarity with “all Catholics and all French people.”

In a first official Israeli reaction, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Twitter it was “heartbreaking to see this icon of France and world civilization in flames.”
VIDEO
Emmanuel Nahshon

@EmmanuelNahshon
 #NotreDame fire - it is heartbreaking to see this icon of #France and world civilization in flames. Solidarity with Paris and France over this terrible tragedy.

111
8:01 PM - Apr 15, 2019
58 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the cathedral a “symbol of European culture.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in a tweet described it as a “terrible fire.”
Vast clouds of grey-white smoke billowed round the cathedral as yellow flames still licked the top of the building.
Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. (Patrick ANIDJAR / AFP)
“The Paris fire service is trying to control the flames,” Hidalgo wrote on Twitter, asking residents to respect the security cordon thrown up around the site.
A spokesperson for the cathedral said the fire, which comes as French Catholics prepare to celebrate Easter, broke out at around 1650 GMT.
Fire trucks could be seen speeding through Paris toward the scene on the Ile de la Cite — an island in the Seine at the heart of Paris.
The Paris police department in a tweet called on residents to avoid the area and to “make way for rescue vehicles.”
‘Horrible to watch’
US President Donald Trump in a tweet said: “So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
 So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!
91.2K
6:39 PM - Apr 15, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
58.2K people are talking about this
Officials responded to Trump’s question by noting that the weight of water falling from airborne vehicles would only speed up the structure’s collapse.
Hundreds of people gathered on the bridges of Paris downriver to witness the scene, some filming the images with their smartphones, an AFP reporter said.
File photo taken on September 18, 2015 shows the cathedral Notre Dame, in Paris. (PATRICK KOVARIK / AFP)
The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work, which last week saw statues lifted from the top of the cathedral.
Built between the years 1163 and 1345, Notre Dame is one of the most popular tourist sites in Paris, drawing around 13 million people every year.
The spire, like the rest of the Gothic edifice, had been undergoing the 11-million-euro ($12.4-million) overhaul financed by the French state to repair damage inflicted by time, pollution and the weather.