Man being questioned over cathedral fire
PARIS: French investigators were yesterday questioning a man who worked at the cathedral in the city of Nantes which was badly damaged by fire a day earlier, a prosecutor said.
The man “was responsible for locking up the cathedral on Friday evening and investigators wanted to clarify elements of the schedule of this person”, prosecutor Pierre Sennes said.
But he emphasised that “any interpretation that could implicate this person in what occurred is premature” adding the questioning was part of “normal procedure”.
Prosecutors launched an arson investigation after the fire broke out on Saturday morning in three places at the gothic cathedral of St Peter and St Paul.
The blaze destroyed stained glass windows and the 17th-century grand organ.
About 100 firefighters saved the main structure, built between the 15th and 19th-centuries.
Mr Sennes confirmed that experts from a police unit specialised in fire investigations were at the scene.
They were awaiting authorisation from firefighters to examine the platform on which the grand organ had stood.
Cathedral rector Father Hubert Champenois said on Saturday “everything was in order last night”, and that “a very close inspection was made before it closed, like every other evening”.
The building was last hit by fire in 1972 and its roof took more than 13 years to repair.
Regional fire chief Laurent Ferlay said on Saturday the damage was not comparable to the 1972 blaze, or to last year’s blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral.
Much of Notre-Dame’s roof and the wooden structure was destroyed, its steeple collapsed and fumes containing toxic molten lead billowed into the air.
Catholic official Father François Renaud, who oversees the cathedral, surveyed the damage with firemen and told AFP the great organ had “completely disappeared”, describing it as “an unimaginable loss”.
“The console of the choir organ has gone up in smoke along with the adjoining wooden choir stalls. Original stained glass windows behind the great organ have all shattered,” he said.
While the blaze was still raging, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted support for “our firefighters who are taking all kinds of risks to save this gothic jewel”.
Prime Minister Jean Castex later inspected the damage along with the French ministers of the interior and culture, after greeting firefighters.
The building was last hit by fire in 1972 and its roof took more than 13 years to repair.
Mr Ferlay played down any comparison with the 1972 blaze or with NotreDame, which caught fire during repair work in April last year.
Another religious building in Nantes — the Basilica of St Donatian and St Rogatian —was struck by a fire in 2015 that destroyed three-quarters of its roof.
“I would like to stress that following the 1972 fire, the roof was redone with concrete reinforcement,” Mr Ferlay said.
He said emergency crews had tried to make sure works of art inside the building had been protected.
Aside from the destroyed organ, officials said other items damaged included a painting by 19th-century artist Hippolyte Flandrin and stained glass windows, some of which contained remnants of 16th-century glass.
The cathedral’s organ was first built in 1621 and had undergone five restorations since — the latest one in 1971.
During the 18th-century revolutionary period the authorities had wanted to melt its pipes for scrap, but the organist argued the instrument could be used for “revolutionary ceremonies”, according to historian Paul Chopelin.