Did The Rose Window Survive The Fire

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What'south Been Saved and What'due south Been Lost in the Notre Matriarch Fire

Smoke billows and flames rise from the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. — Smoke billows from the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral on Tuesday in Paris. Fabien Barrau/Getty Images

Afterward information technology had become apparent that the burn that engulfed the Notre-Matriarch Cathedral on Monday threatened to bring downward the entire building—every bit the vast amounts of wood in the centuries-onetime building ignited rapidly and at a height beyond the reach of typical fire fighting measures—Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told French media that commencement responders had focused some of their attention to saving the priceless art, precious artifacts and other items in the cathedral.

Now it seems, based on reporting from French media, that that effort was largely successful. Hours afterwards the burn down started, we are just now getting an idea of what has been saved and what hasn't. Things are looking slightly ameliorate than initially thought for the cathedral, only the destruction was nevertheless profound. Outset the cathedral's iconic spire fell, then a pregnant portion of the roof complanate. ("Everything is burning, nix will remain from the frame," a Notre Matriarch spokesman said at ane point in the day.) The fire jumped to one of the cathedral's landmark rectangular towers in what seemed to be an ominous sign, but French authorities later announced that both the iconic towers had been saved and that the fire had been more often than not managed. Here's what we know is saved and what has been lost from ane of the world's greatest architectural treasures.

What's safe

Those looking for hope tin take comfort in knowing the damage isn't quite every bit total equally authorities at one point feared. While the truthful extent of the fire's damage tin can't yet be known (some photos from inside the cathedral announced promising), French officials say it appears the facades and bell towers and flying buttresses and much of the rest of the building'southward general construction accept been saved. That's dandy news for obvious reasons. As Meredith Cohen, an art history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles explains, it is the building, rather than anything inside it, that stands as a singular symbol of Paris' history. "The cathedral is the artwork," she said. "And all the other works of art attached to church are dissimilar details of it."

According to Cohen, the building, which was congenital over nearly three centuries starting in 1160 (there take been later additions and renovations), symbolically transformed the metropolis into the center of European civilisation during the medieval menstruation through its brandish of the new and innovative Gothic mode of architecture and its singular architectural and creative appetite. "It'southward the origin of our concept of Paris as a center of art and civilisation," she said.

Statues and paintings

We know a set of important copper statues has been saved, as the Associated Press reported that ones representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists that graced the top of the cathedral were removed last week equally part of the $6.8 meg renovation projection (now believed to exist in some way linked to the cause of the burn) to the now-destroyed spire.

We also know firefighters saved a number of valuable pieces of fine art from inside the cathedral, equally confirmed by the cathedral's rector, only nosotros don't know even so which of those pieces were saved. Merely Cohen said she was slightly less nervous nigh the contents of the church because so many historically pregnant artistic works had already been destroyed or removed during the French Revolution. "They beheaded sculptures, altars were removed, tombstones were removed," she said. She noted that a pregnant choir screen and baroque sculpture above an altar remained. "Just compared to what was there, there is petty left," she said.

The bong towers and the bells

Information technology seems likely that about of the bells were saved, given that the two main bell towers were preserved, though that hasn't officially been confirmed. The cathedral'due south main bell, a fifteen^th-century bell chosen the Emmanuel bell, survived. The Emmanuel bong has marked some of the country's and the world'due south most important moments, such as the finish of Globe War 2 and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Stained-glass windows

French media reported Tuesday that Notre Matriarch's famous and awe-inspiring South Rose window, created in 1260, has survived. The cathedral has two other rose windows, too reported safe, and a large number of stained-glass windows of which their status is unknown.

The organ

French media besides reported Tuesday that the church'south chief organ, one of the largest in the world, did non burn merely may have suffered some water damage. The Great Organ, replaced and updated many times through the years, is operated by a head organist, a position recognized around the globe as highly prestigious.

Christian relics

For the pious, it is probable the relics—items the faithful believe to be physical remains or holding of a saint or other holy effigy—that are more significant in the tally of items saved. In particular many religious Catholics volition likely be relieved to hear that the Crown of Thorns, Notre Dame'due south most valuable religious item and a relic said to be the braided thorns placed on Jesus' head before the crucifixion, is idea to be safety.

While NBC News has reported that the Crown of Thorns was housed in the at present destroyed spire, a spokesman for the church building said the relic had been saved, according to French media. The condition of the other prominent relics, which include a fragment of the "true cross" on which Jesus was crucified and a boom the Romans used in the crucifixion, is unknown. The crown is only brought out for worshipers on Fridays during Lent and on Adept Friday—this upcoming Friday.

The cathedral'due south treasury was too saved, co-ordinate to the cathedral's rector.

What's lost

The spire

The dramatic and iconic spire, ane of the more modern aspects of the cathedral, was built in the 19th century during a wave of enthusiasm for the cathedral'southward restoration in the aftermath of Victor Hugo'south success with The Hunchback of Notre Matriarch. But Cohen says the public should not take any comfort in that modernity: fine art historians consider that another extremely valuable window into the techniques and styles of the time, and part of the layered history of the cathedral. "Y'all tin can re-create that, but you're faking history," she said.

Joan Holladay, a professor of art history at the University of Texas, added that the many centuries of construction seen in the building are office of what makes information technology ane-of-a-kind. "Using all these buildings together, you can put together a large picture of what gothic architecture was," she said. Information technology's non just the individual periods seen in the architecture, merely also how they fit together, that brand the cathedral so valuable.

"The Forest"

The wood roof roofing the stone vault, known as "the forest" because of the vast corporeality of wood needed to build information technology, was largely destroyed. Part of that roof structure dates to the 13^th century, and information technology primarily was made from trees cut between 1160 and 1170, according to CNN—making information technology some of the oldest material in the building.

What's unknown

We still don't know how much damage has been done within the building. There are wooden pews and doorways, and enough of other fine art that could be considered flammable. And nosotros don't know how the edifice's exterior, with the famous Gothic sculpture work (notably, gargoyles), fared. We can presume that when the spire savage and the ceiling collapsed, information technology did some damage to the vaults and the floor of the cathedral—again, damage to deeply historic masonry and blueprint. Holladay noted that stone does not burn down, but it does suffer in the heat, scissure, and lose stability. So she worried about the sculptures on the west facade, with its life-size figures of saints, and older carvings in areas effectually the left portal.

Sculptures and paintings

Some seem hopeful that much of the artwork inside the cathedral has been spared. There are more than than 30 sculptures within the cathedral, including ane statue of Madonna and Child that dates back to the fourteen^th century. There'southward a 1648 portrait of St. Thomas Aquinas and a 1716 painting called the Visitation—i of half dozen in a series depicting the life of Mary, the remaining of which were moved to the Louvre in the 1860s.

Whatever is ultimately institute as regime attempt to have business relationship of the impairment in the days to come, it is already clearly devastating, every bit a building that has represented Paris—and the middle of European art and civilization—for 800 years has been hit with a near-fatal blow. But the construction remains. And French President Emmanuel Macron, in an address just before midnight in Paris, has vowed that the cathedral will once again be displayed as a symbol of Parisian culture and history. "I tell you lot solemnly tonight," he said. "Nosotros will rebuild this cathedral."

Update, April 16, 2019, at 9:10 a.m.: This postal service has been updated to reflect news about the cathedral's stained glass windows and organs.