‘It was like a bombing’

Shards of stained glass from priceless mediaeval windows.

A gaping hole above the choir area where the spire crashed down.

Charred debris from the collapsed roof on the ground.

After firefighters put out the last remnants of the fire that ravaged the Notre Dame cathedral, daylight revealed the extent of the damage caused by the blaze on Monday evening.

Shocked tourists and Parisians watched from the opposite bank of the Seine, kept away by a police cordon.

Journalists could witness the extent of the damage through one of the great doors, which revealed piles of rubble and charred debris inside.

But in a luminous sign of hope, a golden cross was still intact at the back of the cathedral, shining in the gloom.

Intact stained-glass windows and statues could also be seen, though sculpted arches were blackened by smoke and pews destroyed.

Cathedral clerics who saw the damage to the interior said they were struggling to believe what they witnessed.

Philippe Marsset, the vicar general of Notre Dame, was among the first to enter the cathedral.

“It felt like I was looking at a bombing,” Marsset said of the cathedral, where he was ordained a priest 31 years ago.

“It was hell,” he said, describing the moment when the blaze was discovered on the soaring roof shortly after evening mass ended on Monday.

Church officials raced to remove as many artefacts, paintings and cultural treasures as they could before being evacuated by firefighters. –