Paris: Tears and shock as Notre-Dame burns

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Le Monde

WEB DESK

Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists — some crying, others offering prayers — watched on in horror in central Paris on Monday evening as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

A fire broken out at the cathedral and spread rapidly across the building. The cause is not yet clear, but the fire service officials say, it could be linked to renovation work.

A major operation to tackle the blaze is underway at the 850-year-old Gothic building, but the cathedral’s spire and roof have collapsed.

The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year.

A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze.

President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a major televised policy speech. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo in a tweet described it as a terrible fire.

US President Donald Trump told the incident horrible.

Notre-Dame has stood tall above Paris since the 1200s. It has given its name to one of the country’s literary masterpieces. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is known to the French simply as Notre Dame de Paris.

The last time the cathedral suffered major damage was during the French Revolution. It also survived two world wars largely unscathed.