The fire in the Cathedral of Notre Dame is completely localized and generally extinguished, reported the city fire service. According to the official representative of the ministry Gabriel Plus, the emergency services staff eliminate residual fires.
“The fire has been taken under control, but the fire has not been completely extinguished,” said Laurent Nunez, secretary of state at the French Interior Ministry.
According to him, in the coming hours, architects and experts will assess the condition of the building. At the same time, it became known that one of the 400 firefighters who worked at the site of the emergency, as well as two police officers, was “slightly wounded”.
French President Emmanuel Macron was at night at the cathedral, and even briefly went inside, when firefighters were still fighting with fire. The leader of the Fifth Republic promised to bring to the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris the most talented people of our time.
“We will restore this cathedral. Together. This is, without a doubt, part of the fate of France. And the project that we will have for years to come, ”said Macron.
As the Minister of Culture of France, Frank Riester, noted on April 16, the main structure of Notre Dame was saved, but the situation remains difficult.
The fire in the Cathedral of Notre Dame happened on April 15 at about 6:50 pm local time (19:50 Moscow time). It originated in the area of scaffolding installed above the roof of the building. It is noted that French investigators are working on this version. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office opened a case under the article “unintentional damage”.
As a result of the fire, the spire collapsed and the clock, besides, the roof of the building collapsed.
As the mayor of Paris, Ann Hidalgo, reported, the firemen managed to save the altar and altar cross of Notre Dame de Paris. In addition, they managed to save all the relics, including the crown of thorns of Christ, which were located in Notre Dame.
“All the sacred objects are in the sacristy, there is no risk that they will burn,” explained the representative of the cathedral Andre Fino.
Along with this, it became known that a week ago, as part of restoration work, 12 statues of the apostles and four statues of the evangelists were removed from the roof of the building. Also, both bell towers were saved from fire.
Immediately after the incident, the state fund for the preservation of the cultural heritage of France announced the collection of funds that would be used to restore the Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris. In addition, two other crowdfunding platforms have already managed to collect a total of € 24 thousand, and the family of French billionaires Pino promised to allocate € 100 million for the restoration of the cathedral.
The European Commission will take part in financing the restoration work, the press service of the EC reported to Tass.
“The European Commission will allocate a special grant from the European funds for the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris, which is part of the cultural heritage of Europe and the world. As soon as the extent of the damage and the estimated cost of the restoration work are known, the EC will decide on the amount of
financing, ”the agency said in a press statement.
Also, the mayor of Paris, Ann Hidalgo, offered to convene an international conference to raise funds for the restoration of the temple.
"The whole world together with France"
Notre Dame de Paris is the Notre Dame of all of Europe, said European Council President Donald Tusk. He expressed support for Paris in connection with the fire in the cathedral.
The governments of Japan and Spain also promised to assist the Fifth Republic.
“The French people will restore him, he, no doubt, will raise him anew. And we will be there. The whole world is now and will be with France. The Cathedral of Notre Dame will be reborn from the ashes, ”- said in a statement the Royal House of Spain.
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The fire at the cathedral, a symbol of Christianity in France and around the world, caused shock and deep sorrow in the Vatican, said Alessandro Gizotti, interim head of the press service of the Holy See. At the same time, in the Russian Orthodox Church, the fire in Notre-Dame-de-Paris was called “a great loss” and “a terrible sign, the meaning of which we still have to fully realize.”
“May the Mother of God save the Christians of the West during these tribulation hours,” Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR), quotes TASS.
The words of support for France were also expressed in the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
“This is a big tragedy, which reminds of the need to protect, the need for everyone to take care of cultural heritage objects and the world around them. We empathize, ”RIA Novosti quotes Vladislav Kononov, head of the department of museums in the department.
With great regret, the singer Garou, who played the role of Quasimodo in the musical “Notre-Dame de Paris”, staged after the novel by Victor Hugo, took the news of the fire in Notre-Dame de Paris.
“Our Parisian cradle burned. It is a pillar of faith, architecture and time, inspiring people and artists over the centuries. These are the bells that I ring at my Quasimodo house. I'm sad, ”he wrote on Twitter.
"Shame on you?"
The host of the Ukrainian television channel Pryamoy, Taras Berezovets, in his Twitter tied up a fire in the cathedral with the recent arrival in France of presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky. According to UNIAN, the journalist openly supports the current leader of the country, Petro Poroshenko.
“In general, Macron was very lucky that after the arrival of Zelensky only the Notre Dame Cathedral burned down. But the Elysian Palace could have flared, ”he wrote on Twitter.
Post on the social network caused a flurry of negative comments. Isabelle Dumont, French ambassador to Kiev, called the words of a TV presenter a “disgrace”.
"Shame on you!? It's a shame, ”she said, also noting the official account of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and the head of department Pavel Klimkin in the record.
Shame on you !? A shame. @ PavloKlimkin @ MFA_Ukrainehttps: //t.co/E6mYrATAnW
- Isabelle Dumont (@isabelledumont) April 15, 2019Later, the Ukrainian minister posted a message in Twitter in French, stating that "the cathedral is a symbol of France and our European culture."
"With all my heart with our Parisian friends," he wrote.