Honestly my stomach dropped when I saw the videos started pouring in. Followed the live stream, and when the spire crashed down, my jaw was practically on the floor. This sucks. So much history, and such a gorgeous piece of architecture.
To think I was walking inside, marveling at the stones and warmed by the abundant candles alit around the halls, barely over 3 months ago.
What a loss.
Yeah, I donāt know why Iām being such a philistine over this. I just donāt feel grief over burning structures although I grant it would be a massive loss.
You might do if the structure had connections to your life history and its destruction then mirrored the many losses that we all experience in life. If Paris was your hometown, youād be feeling a little bit of pain round about now, watching those images.
The odd thing is Iāve been to ND and it left me cold. Didnāt like it. Much preferred Strasbourg Cathedral. But then again Iāve sung in Christchurch Cathedral as a choirboy and when that went down I wasnāt all that upset.
I guess everyone is different, ha ha
I wasnāt just a choirboy. I was head chorister of the largest parish church in Kiwiland.
It all went downhill from thereā¦
April 15th seems to be a very unauspicious date: death of Abe Lincoln, Titanic, Hillborough, Boston bombings, and this.
I blame you . You just did not burn enough paper money . 
Any loss of Historical things is bad news . It appears as though almost all of the artifacts were saved and nobody died. So thatās good . I would never get upset with anyone . There may well be some worried construction workers today in Paris.
Back to normality .
I compare it to the fire at the Brazilian museum, all that heritage lost. Same here in Paris. You may rebuild, but it is not the same. It was magnificent.
BTW, I learned today that the spire was not in the original church, but added later on, so they can choose to keep it or not.
Iāve never been to Notre Dame. Obviously, I shanāt bother going now.
I think they should rebuild it in the original way.
But considering the current french āleaderā, Iām VERY worried about what they may plan to do. And I mean that in a ācurrent year restorationā term.
Why not?
Itās burnt down.
Itās obviously not though. Donāt exaggerate. They were able to salvage a lot of it. The spire is gone and so is the 800 year old wooden framework. But most of the interior and almost all of the treasures survived. It probably wonāt ever be the same, but itās not like it was 100% destroyed.
Iām going to France in July, but Iād feel like a bit of a gloater if I went to see it then. Like rubber becoming a car crash.
This may sound cynical but I think itās likely that he could get a tax break out of it.
Well, July might be too early, true. But in 10 years, it should be ā¦ āokayā is the wrong word. But more or less restored to something resembling what it used to be minus some of the historical significance. If you look at many castles and temples in Japan, many of them are just post-WW2 reconstructions and not the real article from 400 years ago. But theyāre still worth visiting.
And quite rightly so.