Notre Dame Cathedral, located in Paris, France, is an example of the beauty of French Gothic architecture. The cathedral is huge and is filled with colorful rose windows. It's creative use of sculptural decoration, rib vault, and flying buttress are just a few striking features that makes the cathedral so special. It is declare sacred to the Virgin Mary and consider deeply holy to many civilians.
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On Monday April 15, the first fire alarm triggered at 6:20 p.m. inside the cathedral, however, the staff was confused and couldn't find where the fire was. Then around 6:43 p.m. the second alarm went off and they found the fire in the attic.
It took Paris fire department nine hours to take down that fire along with nearly 400 firefighters. So far there has only been one firefighter and two police officers that suffer with injuries. The cathedral defiantly got destroyed. It took large parts of the church and the iconic spire went down. Luckily, the structure is saved and main artworks have survived and are being taken care of.
They are treating this as an accident but one can't help but wonder if this could be an attack since it is the start of holy week. The French President, Emmanuel Macron has promised to fix the cathedral and many people are on board to help out. Several billionaires and corporations have offered donations to aid repairs. Eventually, the cathedral will recover and become an even more powerful landmark.
For more live updates, check out CNN live reports of the cathedral.