Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burning
 

A serious fire is consuming the grand old cathedral built in the 1100s. Hopefully the stone structures can be saved. I believe it is designed with a stone vault inside the wooden roof structure rendering it very fire resistant for the day.

It is a wonder it was not retrofitted with sprinklering system.

It appears major renovation work was underway so it might be that a workman started the fire.

Although not the largest Gothic cathedral it is among the most exquisite in its design in my mind.

Notre Dame
 

Standing there looking at majestic cathedral some years back I couldn't help thinking about Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, one of my all time favorites.

Indeed that is an excellent book! After reading it I read a number of other books by him and enjoyed them all.

To see the steeple fail was unfortunate and graphic. I assume they will rebuild it. Far too famous a landmark not to.

Either in pillars of the earth or somewhere. I read how these edifices where built. I read pillars of the earth at one time but it is vague in my mind. It was one of the books our older daughter sent us.

These structures may have represented the real starts of the modern engineering professions.

It is said true or not. That Hitler ordered Paris destroyed before leaving. Plus the military commander there did not order it done. Some of these claims to me remain suspect as propaganda. As at that stage of the war not obeying a direct order of that magnitude should have got him shot.

A sad day to be sure .

There is actually a book about the general who was supposed to burn Paris. He in good conscience could do it, so he ordered the explosive charges to all the famous Parisian landmarks including bridges and Notre dame cathedral. ....but he never got around to ordering them to be exploded and he surrendered himself to the allies and never had to face the wrath of A. HItler.

The title of the book is "Is paris burning?" Because Hitler kept calling and asking and the General kept making excuses until the Allies actually occupied the city.

cute photo,but probably true

One lucky individual to save his skin. I think Hitler only visited Paris the once during the war years. Shortly after France threw in the towel. There are existing newsreels and he appears not very interested.


Retribution in his mind perhaps for some of the Targets chosen by the allies in Germany? A war that changed pretty much the whole world in any event. For a very substantial percentage of the worlds population.

So it looks like there was a local fire alarm and it took 23 minutes of not figuring out what was going on until a second alarm got some serious response. The second human failure that resulted in this tragedy.

I think the general really walked the tightrope on this but I believe he decided that no matter what he would not have the destruction of Paris on his conscience if it could be avoided.