The Cathedral of Notre-Dame is burning.

Of course there were no construction workers around when the fire was spotted, it was 1830 local time. The construction workers were long gone. Maybe that's why the fire wasn't spotted immediately. All the old woods in that church that could catch fire when some type of heated tool is left unattended. At this time it could be anything. To say that there were some nefarious reasons for the fire is as unreal as saying that God was mad. And to not feel a loss after this beautiful historic building is badly damaged is like it's no big deal if the Temple of Petra, the Great Pyramid, Osaka castles, Angkor Wat, Buckingham Palace, Washington Monoment or the US Capitol building were heavily destroyed.

And yet another light of the West dims and fades....

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Originally Posted by Sam

To say that there were some nefarious reasons for the fire is as unreal as saying that God was mad. And to not feel a loss after this beautiful historic building is badly damaged is like it's no big deal if the Temple of Petra, the Great Pyramid, Osaka castles, Angkor Wat, Buckingham Palace, Washington Monoment or the US Capitol building were heavily destroyed.

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God doesn’t mourn the loss of this structure. It was just sticks and stones. I don’t mourn the loss of the structure, because it holds no importance to me. But, I’m not saying that it’s a good thing that this disaster happened, either.

ISIS destroyed many, older monuments during their nonsense. It didn’t consume the news, and I don’t remember people crying about it.

I dont know about crying- but old buildings are important- its history, it starts conversations, it forms cultures in an area.

They are important for the same reason you take kids to a zoo or museum, or science center.

Got to see it in 1996, I was hoping to show it to my wife one day. I hope they rebuild it.

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Originally Posted by MegademiC

I dont know about crying- but old buildings are important- its history, it starts conversations, it forms cultures in an area.

They are important for the same reason you take kids to a zoo or museum, or science center.

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I was referring to the news reporting people on the street crying, not anyone here. I am not trying to denigrate anyone who is saddened by this 700 year old tinderbox doing what a tinderbox does. I am just sharing a different opinion. Perhaps it would have been served better by different caretakers, than it had. I am not French nor Catholic, so this building holds no importance to me. I understand the historical and architectural importance, and for that reason I agree that the loss of the structure sucks.

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Originally Posted by Sam

To say that there were some nefarious reasons for the fire is as unreal as saying that God was mad.

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I think it is equally as unreal to assume there was no nefarious attempts, given the vandalism/attacks on Catholic and Christian churches in France:

The Catholic hierarchy has kept silent about the episodes, limited themselves to highlighting that anti-Christian threat and expressing hope that politicians and police will get to the bottom of the crimes.

Reports indicate that 80 percent of the desecration of places of worship in France concerns Christian churches and in the year 2018 this meant the profanation of an average of two Christian churches per day in France, even though these actions rarely make the headlines.

In 2018, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 541 anti-Semitic acts, 100 anti-Muslim acts, and 1,063 anti-Christian acts.

Vandals and arsonists have targeted French churches in a wave of attacks that has lasted nearly two months.

More than 10 churches have been hit since the beginning of February, with some set on fire while others were severely desecrated or damaged.

St. Sulpice, the second-largest church in Paris, after Notre Dame Cathedral, had the large wooden door on its southern transept set ablaze March 17.

Investigators confirmed March 18 that the fire was started deliberately, according to the website of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, an independent organization founded with the help of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences.

https://www.getreligion.org/getrelig...are-vandalized

At this point, my feeling is that any announcement by the government that 'this isn't an act of anti-Christian hate' merely confirms that it probably was, as it is still too early to make a determination.

It simply wasn't "Just" a Church, it was a Cathedral.
If you research it a bit you'll find that when these things were originally built, they were not only putting up a building they were learning and teaching many different trades as these Cathedrals were erected.
Engineering, Glass Work, Sculpture, Masonry, Carpentry, Woodworking, Painting and more all came together and these trades had to be able to coordinate and agree in order to compliment each other in the final work.
Many times these undertakings happened after a great tragedy when there was a great deal of loss of life. It was a way to reunite the people to a common goal and
an opportunity to teach and to learn new trades. I believe this was done in order that certain skill sets were not forever lost to history.
I believe and I may be wrong, but Notre Dame was one of the tallest buildings of it's time and that many new and innovative engineering and architectural innovations of that era were developed during the building of Notre Dame such as flying buttresses.
It was not only historic, it was an epic undertaking of it's time and was filled with artwork that will forever be lost to future generations.

I visited Notre Dame in the mid 1980's, I found it rather awe inspiring from a historical stand point.

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Originally Posted by kwelz

Yeah. Spire is completely gone now. I just saw someone say the entire building is engulfed now and that it is going to be a total loss.

Maybe I am a bad person, but this bothers me as much of maybe more than if there had been another major terrorist attack.

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I had the same thought. It would be more acceptable if it was a terrorist attack. That this was an accident associated with a renovation attempt is almost too much to accept. If this was something like some f-tard plugged in an extension cord wrong and started a fire it will really be hard to take.

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Originally Posted by Coal Dragger

Did anyone get hurt?

If not, then not a big deal. I thought a church was the congregation not a building. Buildings can be replaced.

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I agree that people are more important than a building. But it wasn't simply just a church, this building was a major cultural and historic artifact. Sorta how the pyramids have almost nothing to do with ancient egyptian religions today.

I'm not religious at all but this one still hurts.