The day after Notre Dame burned: Paris April 16, 2019!
Parisians are in tears, the symbol of Christianity in France and in the world is in ruins. The news talk about the vast damage of Notre Dame. The altar has been preserved and the reconstruction will be very demanding.
Even before I put on the news on April 15th, my husband told me that it was impossible to breathe in the centre of Paris, the air was stinging, and that there was a fire somewhere. He saw the fire from a distance and apparently it was Notre Dame!
I didn't want to believe it!
How could this happen? Donald Trump also wondered: "Don't you have units in Paris that would be able to extinguish it?” The firefighters didn't have it easy. At 19:00 Paris experiences a daily traffic collapse and that was the case yesterday, too - fire trucks got stuck in traffic jams.
People kneeling in front of the building in flames, singing, praying and crying. Outside, the building looks like nothing is going on, while 400 firefighters do everything in their power to extinguish the fire. There's a sharp smell everywhere, and siren sounds are all over Paris. People feel helpless.
I went to Notre Dame. What are the streets like on April 16th?
The day after the fire, I'm heading for the 4th circuit of the eastern part of Paris to find out what the situation is like. From a distance, Notre Dame really seems like nothing happened here. Currently the area is partially closed, you cannot cross the Saint-Michel bridge or the Notre-Dame bridge, and the Au Change bridge is also marked with tape, the object is guarded by police. The areas around Notre Dame are crowded, everybody has a camera and news reporters are countless. The streets are absorbed by sadness, as if Paris has lost a part of itself. People are just shaking their heads.
The cause is still unknown and is being investigated. We can only hope that the reconstruction of Notre Dame will be successful and that life will return there again.
The cathedral of the city's archdiocese of Notre Dame is a symbol of Paris and the most visited monument of France. The construction of this iconic building took nearly 200 years, from 1163 to 1345. Therefore, its architecture is not defined by a single style. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world!
