Quand on n'a que l'amour

16/04 Update on Notre-Dame, from a Parisian art historian

- Notre-Dame is on an island, between two arms of the river Seine. The area around the cathedral has been roped off by police and firemen. However, you can still see her up close from the streets on both sides of the river. I’ve never, ever, ever seen that many people in these streets. Tourists and cameras from around the world are looking at Notre-Dame today.

- The fire is extinguished (as firefighters confirmed at 9.30 a.m. local time)

- Last night, part of 13th century wooden structure and the vault, as well as the 1860s spire (erected by architect Viollet le Duc) collapsed.

- However, the stone structure of the cathedral, with its two towers, the stained glass roses, and part of the vault have survived.

- Many artworks have also been saved. Firefighters evacuated the cathedral’s treasures, including the cathedral’s most important relics, Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns, and the tunic of king Louis IX (known as Saint Louis), the most revered French king and the only one to have been canonised. They also evacuated small paintings by the Le Nains brothers and other artists of the 17th or 18th centuries, although bigger pieces could not be taken out.

- President Emmanuel Macron announced the cathedral would be rebuilt. Reconstruction could take decades and cost billions.

- Billionaires François-Henri Pinault (C.E.O. of Kering, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent) pledged €100 million and Bernard Arnault (LVMH, which owns Moet and Louis Vuitton) €200 million to help rebuild the cathedral.

- Although the restoration will be a long process, it has been done before. The French cathedrals of Nantes, Reims, Rennes and Luneville have all been rebuilt after similar catastrophes. Furthermore, Notre-Dame had undergone massive reparations in the 19th century, after she was defaced by the French Revolution.

My heart is broken