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'City of Lights' Plunged into Dark Sorrow as Notre Dame Burns


People pray and sing religious songs next to Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, April 15, 2019.
People pray and sing religious songs next to Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, April 15, 2019.

Distraught Parisians and stunned tourists gazed in disbelief on Monday as a monstrous inferno tore through Paris' Notre Dame cathedral, one of the world's best-loved monuments.

Thousands of onlookers lined bridges over the Seine and along the river's embankments, held at a distance by a police cordon as the blaze engulfed the cathedral's roof.

"I'm devastated," said Elizabeth Caille, 58, who lives close to the cathedral. "It's a symbol of Paris. It's a symbol of Christianity. It's a whole world that is collapsing."

As dark fell over the French capital, orange flames rising through the heart of the 12th century Gothic cathedral cast an eerie glow through its stained-glass windows and against its stone towers.

Fire fighters douse flames of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, April 15, 2019.
Fire fighters douse flames of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, April 15, 2019.

Dumbstruck observers stood rooted to the spot as the scale of catastrophe sunk in, questioning whether the cathedral would survive the night as clouds of acrid-smelling smoke rose into the sky. Some were visibly moved.

"It will never be the same" said 30-year-old Samantha Silva, tears welling in her eyes as she explained how she would always take foreign friends visiting Paris to the cathedral.

Built over a century starting around the year 1160, historians consider Notre Dame to be among the best examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture.

Notre Dame survived being ransacked by rioting Huguenots in the 16th century, pillaging during the French Revolution of the 1790s and being left in a state of semi-neglect until Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which led to renewed interest in the cathedral and a major restoration which began in 1844.

Sparks fill the air as Paris Fire brigade members spray water to extinguish flames as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns in Paris, April 15, 2019.
Sparks fill the air as Paris Fire brigade members spray water to extinguish flames as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns in Paris, April 15, 2019.

The cathedral continued to be used as a place for national mourning in modern-day France. World leaders attended memorial services held for former presidents Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand.

"It's horrible, it's 800 years of history gone up in smoke," said German tourist Katrin Recke.

As fire-fighters raced to save priceless artworks, centuries-old gargoyles and the cathedral's northern tower, world leaders expressed sorrow and grief in messages to the French people.

"Notre Dame belonged to all humanity. What a tragic spectacle. What horror. I share the French nation's sadness," tweeted Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union's executive Commission.

Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wrote: "My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purpose — to build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own."

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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