Blaze at Paris cathedral being treated as accidental but search of interior yet to take place due to safety risk
Investigators think an electrical short circuit may have caused the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, according to a judicial police official.
An initial assessment of the cathedral was made on Wednesday but safety hazards have prevented a search of its charred interior, the official told Associated Press.
Continue reading...18 April 1934: “Trotsky had not kept his promise to remain neutral when he was granted the hospitality of France,” said the French minister of the Interior
Paris, April, 17.
The French Government, at its meeting to-day, decided to expel Trotsky from France. Commenting on this decision, M. Sarraut, the Minister of the Interior, said that “Trotsky had not kept his promise to remain neutral when he was granted the hospitality of France.” Trotsky, M. Sarraut said, would be asked to leave France (and, in the first place, the Paris district) within the shortest possible time.
Related: From the archive: The expulsion of Trotsky from the Soviet party
Continue reading...French president postponed his address to the nation but the stakes have been raised
The broadcast was ready to go. Emmanuel Macron’s address to the nation in response to months of protest and violence from the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement and the “great national debate” they sparked had been recorded that afternoon and was due to go live at 8pm.
Running to 26 minutes, it was, said Le Monde, “a make-or-break moment for the presidency and for this president, confronted […] with one of the most serious social crises the country has known for 30 years”.
Continue reading...Notre Dame Cathedral was '15 to 30 minutes' away from complete destruction as firefighters battled to stop flames reaching its Gothic bell towers, French authorities have said. The blaze destroyed the roof and spire of the Parisian landmark. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he wants to see the cathedral rebuilt 'more beautiful than before' within five years, but there are warnings that the repairs could take decades
The flames leaping above the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral, as crowds of dazed onlookers sung hymns in the twilight, looked apocalyptic, a sight from the end of days – or at least the climactic scene of a Dan Brown novel. The destruction of a building so iconic, so symbolic of a nation, is deeply unsettling. And so it should be, for this irreplaceable loss of 800-year-old heritage is tragic. But setting the calamity in historical context shows us how unusual our age is in investing so greatly in the veneration of ancient buildings – and how accustomed we have become to thinking they can be frozen in time.
Happily, Notre Dame seems to have emerged less ravaged than was initially feared. The main fabric of the church has survived, and the relics and other holy items inside were, largely, rescued. It was easy to forget as smoke and flame belched heavenwards that the roof, made from a forest’s worth of medieval timber, was separated from the interior by the high, arching stone vaults. Some of those have collapsed, but most seem still in place. The glorious stained-glass rose windows, dating from the 13th century (when the cathedral was completed), have been mercifully spared too.
Continue reading...PM says rebuilt cathedral should reflect ‘techniques and challenges of our times’
The French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has announced an international architecture competition to rebuild the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The 93-metre spire collapsed on Monday in a fire that began at its base and spread through the cathedral’s ribbed roof, made up of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century.
Continue reading...Aerial footage reveals the extent of the damage to Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire tore through the 850-year-old structure. Up to 500 firefighters had battled to contain the flames on Monday evening. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to rebuild the Paris landmark within five years. The fire started at the base of the 93-metre spire and spread through the cathedral’s ribbed roof, made up of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century
Continue reading...Financial sector warned it risks losses from extreme weather and its stakes in polluting firms
The global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank have warned, writing in the Guardian.
In an article published in the Guardian on Wednesday aimed at the international financial community, Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to “raise the bar” to avoid catastrophe.
Continue reading...In a televised address on Tuesday evening, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he wanted to see the Notre Dame Cathedral rebuilt within five years. French authorities have revealed that the historic building was ‘15 to 30 minutes’ away from complete destruction
Continue reading...Firefighters risked their lives to stop the raging fire spreading to the two belfry towers
Notre Dame Cathedral was within “15 to 30 minutes” of complete destruction as firefighters battled to stop flames reaching its gothic bell towers, French authorities have revealed.
A greater disaster was averted by members of the Paris fire brigade who risked their lives to remain inside the burning monument to create a wall of water between the raging fire and two towers on the west facade.
Continue reading...Edifice joins long list of culturally significant buildings with history of destruction
The history of beloved, culturally significant buildings is inextricably connected to a history of destruction – and very often fire. Less than a century after building of the present Notre Dame began in 1163, fire damage is thought to have prompted the remodelling of parts of the cathedral. The Gothic structure replaced an earlier church that had been built on the site of a Roman temple to Jupiter. By the 19th century the building was in a state of deep neglect: almost a ruin and lacking its spire.
Related: Notre Dame Cathedral fire – a visual guide and timeline
Continue reading...After Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed by flames on Monday, work has begun to assess the damage to the 850-year-old building
Continue reading...Footage from Monday night shows firefighters surveying the damage inside Paris's fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral. A blaze swept across the top of the Paris landmark, collapsing its spire as locals and tourists watched aghast. In the interior footage, smouldering ashes can be seen, along with red embers falling from the roof.
The 850-year old building is home to priceless works of art, statues and religious relics
On Monday night, as Notre Dame Cathedral burned, firefighters scrambled to save its precious contents.
The 850-year-old cathedral is home to priceless works of art, architecture, musical instruments, statues, woodwork and religious relics – from the 8,000-pipe great organ to Nicolas Coustou’s sculpture Descent From the Cross. A full list of the masterpieces housed in the cathedral is posted on its website.
Continue reading...Fire brought under control on Tuesday but spire of centuries-old landmark destroyed after flames burst through the roof
A fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris was brought under control by firefighters in the early hours of Tuesday morning, though officials warned there were still residual fires to put out.
Thousands of Parisians watched in horror from behind police cordons as a ferocious blaze devastated Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday night, destroying its spire and a large part of the roof.
Continue reading...From a 15th-century coronation of an English king, to the liberation of Paris in 1944 and this year’s yellow vest protests, the 850-year old cathedral has stood witness to the sweep of history. For many Parisians, Notre Dame is the very heart of their city. Thousands of them looked on on Monday night as a fire ravaged the Gothic monument
Continue reading...The cathedral has always meant more than mere Gothic splendour throughout France
When the spire broke and fell over, we felt as if it was plunging straight into our hearts. To all of us in Paris, and throughout France, Christians or not, believers or non-believers, Notre Dame has always meant more than mere Gothic splendour.
Related: Notre Dame fire: Paris cathedral devastated by ferocious blaze
Continue reading...Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames on Monday afternoon, causing its main spire to collapse and raising fears for the future of the 850-year-old building and its precious artworks
Continue reading...One of the great symbols of France has suffered terrible fire damage. The whole of Europe is scarred too
It feels as though the very heart of France and the soul of Europe have been suddenly and viciously ripped out. The fire that coursed through large sections of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday evening was an act of blind and terrible destruction that causes a great stab of emotional pain to us all.
In a frighteningly short time, it gutted and humbled one of the great buildings of Paris, in an act of annihilation of one of the emblematic places of Europe that had survived the brutality of the French revolution and the world wars of the 20th century.
Continue reading...A major operation is under way by Paris firefighters after a blaze broke out at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral. Police said the fire began accidentally and was linked to building work at the site
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