Fire in Notre-Dame de Paris: Internet users share emotions and memories

At each tragedy, social networks echo the sadness of the French. The fire of Notre-Dame de Paris was no exception Monday night. Everyone was in unison to share their emotion on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

LIVE - Notre-Dame de Paris: the fire is "under control", follow the evolution of the situation

Pél-mêle, the Net surfers evoked their sadness, the shock felt before the terrible images of Notre-Dame in the flames or their support to the valiant firefighters of Paris who saved the monument. The whole with occasional emojis: a face tear to sun, hands joined as a sign of prayer or a broken heart.

See this post on Instagram

#Repost @hapsatousy · · · So sad #notredame you had overcome so many things, seen so much pain, surpass all hatreds, that I am sad #notredamedeparis #paris

A publication shared by ʙᴇʀᴛʀᴀɴᴅ.ᴘɴɢ (@ bertrand.pgn) on April 15, 2019 at 9:37 PDT

How sad ... # NotreDamepic.twitter.com / XYlhComdDm

Thank you @ PompiersParis @ PompiersEN
You are the pride of a whole country!

What is the point of praying to Our Lady? # NotreDameCathedral

Victor Hugo quoted, Quasimodo drawn

For many people, Notre-Dame de Paris is inseparable from the eponymous novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. Some therefore went to find passages of the text paying homage to the arrows and rosettes of the cathedral. The writer deplored the state of decrepitude of the monument and his novel played a major role in its renovation in 1845.

"Indeed, in the enclosure of Notre-Dame, the condemned was inviolable. The cathedral was a place of refuge. All human justice expired on the threshold. "

Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame of Paris

"Our Lady is now deserted, inanimate, dead. We feel that there is something missing. This huge body is empty, it's a skeleton, the spirit has left it, we see its place, and that's all. "- Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) # NotreDamepic.twitter.com / 9OBwcEKMMB

Other netizens relayed the premonitory evocation by Victor Hugo of a fire in Notre-Dame. This one was voluntary, triggered by Quasimodo to melt lead he poured on the attackers who tried to enter the cathedral to attack his beloved Esmeralda. The description that made the writer does not yet mismatch with the images that went around the world Monday night.

#Notre Dame of Paris
Victor Hugo had imagined everything pic.twitter.com/enCCFhSj5q

For the younger generations - who have not all read Victor Hugo - Notre-Dame de Paris, it's also a classic Disney: The Hunchback of Notre Dame , released in 1996. So we see bloom since Monday the drawings staging the dismay of Quasimodo, now orphaned by his lair. On one of them, the hunchback, tearing at the sun, squeezes Our Lady against her heart.

We all knew his last years, but we never gave up, we rebuild #OurDame, for Quasimodo, for Victor Hugo, for our heritage and for our history! pic.twitter.com/7kZ0JX9ymG

#OurDame sorry my sincere condolences Quasimodo pic.twitter.com/82Q3ZeZW5n

#notredamedParis in flames ... pic.twitter.com/A0pfc621C2

To each his story with Our Lady

Everyone has a special relationship with Notre-Dame de Paris and it was particularly visible yesterday, everyone going from their little story or personal anecdote. For example, Notre Dame was a favorite place for lovers. Some romantic Internet users have shared photos of kisses exchanged on the forecourt of the cathedral or at the top of its steeples, with each time the monument that dominates the frame and seems to give his blessing. One of them, immortal, had been captured by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

I can not find the words tonight to pay homage to this great lady. But an image of tenderness arises, so beautiful, captured by Cartier-Bresson. To alleviate these terrible hours. # NotreDamepic.twitter.com / 0ip0n5hrgO

See this post on Instagram

看到 聖母院 失火 新聞 好 傷 好 好 好 好 歷史 炬 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公 公趴趴 看 不到 了 放 空姐 趴趴 趴趴 # # # #

A publication shared by Reen 兒 (@reenreenbabe) on April 15, 2019 at 9:28 PDT

But the emotion was not only French last night. Around the world, Internet users have expressed their sadness to see so go up in smoke this cathedral known to all. On the one hand, there were those who thought they were happy to have visited it at least once, and those who cried for not having had that chance.

I'm so glad I got to see it #OurDame

On Facebook, our listeners also wanted to express their emotions, as Gael weeps "to see a building, and especially this building that has survived wars, revolutions, dramas that France had, OUR Cathedral that has held for almost 900 years, go up in smoke ... "" French friends! The whole of Quebec is in shock! You are not alone in the sadness! We too have almost lost Our Lady of Montreal under the flames! has made sure that it was spared! President Macron speaks of national underwriting, even international! WE WILL RESPOND TO this call! ", replies Alain from another continent.

"A lot of sadness! The heart of France that burns I'm inconsolable.The symbol of Christianity in France is too hard it's horrible ...", says Angels, when Maria wants to pay tribute to firefighters: " I say a big THANK YOU and a huge BRAVO firefighters who were able to control the fire at the risk of leaving their lives ... Respect Gentlemen the Soldiers of Fire "

Those who have never visited Notre-Dame de Paris should still have the opportunity in a few years. Admittedly, the material damage is considerable: the spire, which peaked at 93 meters, fell, nibbled by fire, and "the whole roof is damaged, the whole of the frame is destroyed, part of the vault is collapsed, "said Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Plus, spokesman for the Paris Fire Department. But the nave, the steeples, the rose window and many relics, including the Sainte-Couronne, were saved. And already Monday night, the Net surfers expressed their determination to see Our Lady reborn from the ashes.