The fire began, from reports, due to construction work. The building is ablaze, and the prognosis doesn’t look good. The BBC has a live thread here for you to follow.
Notre Dame survived revolution, invasions, and shelling. It has stood as one permanent thing over eight hundred years in the City of Light. It has seen the history of the Western world as it arose from its post-Roman Empire slumber. And now, it’s burning due to, possibly, a construction accident.
A building’s demise shouldn’t affect me as much as this is affecting me. But it represents something bigger. It represents mere mortals attempting to understand and speak to the divine. It’s a symbol of the ineffable in stone and glass. It’s an example of the greatness humanity can achieve. And now it’s going up, as will all works made of human hands.
It will be one of my greatest regrets to have never made it there to see it. And all we can do is watch as it is consumed.
There’s no light coda to this piece. Just a mournful dirge.
Well, never doubt the resilience and tenacity of people with a task to complete.
The fire brigades fighting the Notre-Dame fire have put it out, and have minimized the damage more than anyone could have hoped.
A day of sorrow, but not of complete loss.