It’s amazing considering they didn’t have our knowledge of physics and engineering. All those formulas were developed centuries after the fact.
The late professor Tallon’s work:
They had a LOT of practice, passed down from master to apprentice for centuries.
Life is pain. :(
It seems somewhat glib to bring it up but AC Unity preserves Notre Dame in its own small way.
Honestly, how the heck could you not have more safeguards in place for one of the most revered and ancient architectural wonders of the world. My favorite Cathedral :(
Quickly looking through the wiki page, I don’t see anything with quite the same level of destruction. I guess the spire was replaced at one point and there were periods where the interior was in very bad shape.
Do we even have the knowledge to rebuild it like it was, or would we be basically “cheating” with modern materials?
I thought about that, too.
Oh, it’s never been this devastated, absolutely. But hopefully they can rebuild nonetheless. I cannot think they won’t make the effort.
“Good news: all the works of art have been saved. The treasures of the cathedral are intact, the crown of thorns, the holy sacraments.”
Source: Father Frederic, priest there for two years.
Thank the maker.
Even if you are not a religious person, it is always tragic when ancient works of art are destroyed. They are a part of our human heritage.
The destruction of Palmyra hit me like a guy punch. The raids on the library of Timbuktu were horrifying (and the people who saved parts of it are heroes in my book). Losing Norte Dame would be losing something irreplaceable.
Yeah, even if you don’t believe in the religious significance of such things, such artifacts and sites contain a large amount of historic and cultural signficance.
This is awful. We were there last June and it amazing to be somewhere with such a long history - even without being religious. Even if they rebuild, which I hope they can do - just isn’t the same. Worth it, but not the same.
Wow, this is absolutely terrible and gut wrenching.
We were just there in June. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture in a beautiful setting along the Seine. It’s in the center of Paris. This is a sad day.
One of the towers is burning as well now…
This is so heartbreaking. Notre Dame was always close to my heart and the first thing I visited when I travelled to Europe as a teen. I was there 2 years ago again and marvelled at its beauty.
Really tragic.
My memory is that you land at CDG, then you get on this train for a long time and you see a lot of not-super-attractive outlying structures, then you’re underground. Come up from the metro station in the middle of Paris, and WHAM BAM NOTRE DAME. You’re in the city of lights.
Nothing else to say but to reiterate “this sucks.”
It actually physically hurts me to watch those images. All those paintings, the entire interior, the roof and probably also the walls (Ken Follett indeed)… Even if they rebuild it, it will never be what it was.
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck.