Notre Dame’s structure is saved from inferno
50 investigators begin looking into cause of fire
– The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers, and a frantic rescue effort saved the monument’s “most precious treasures,” including the Crown of Thorns purportedly worn by Jesus, officials said Tuesday.
Also surviving was the Roman Catholic cathedral’s famous 18th-century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes, after a plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action when the fire broke out Monday. Statues removed from the roof for restoration just days ago also were saved.
But the cathedral’s high altar was damaged by falling debris when the spire collapsed, one official said.
Authorities consider the fire to be an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week.
Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into what caused the fire would be “long and complex.” Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral’s roof, where the flames first broke out.
Investigators have already queser tioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe.
Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday, but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered on the roof.
News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
“Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works,” said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang.
Interior Minister Christophe CASTANPARIS said there were still some risks to the structure.
The cathedral is “under permanent surveillance because it can still budge,” Castaner told reporters.
Offers of assistance began flowing in from around the world to help restore the 12th-century tourist attraction to its former glory.
Repairing the cathedral, including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof, presents challenges.
The roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because “we don’t, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century,” said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technology.