Fire at Notre Dame France
The Notre Dame Cathedral at Paris was gutted by a fire, that destroyed the important tourist destination, and destroyed many rare works of art. Video Credit: https://www.cbc.ca/1.5098604
The Cathedral of Notre Dame is situated in Paris, France, and is known as Our Lady of Paris. It was built during the 12th and 13th centuries, and is one of the finest examples of French architecture. It's not only a landmark for Paris, but for the whole world.This church has a high number of tourists visiting it. It sees 30,000 people a day, and more that 13 million people a year.
Yesterday evening, however, on the 15th of April, 2019, at 6:30 pm, the church caught fire, giving off a lot of smoke. As the last batch of tourists tried to enter the church, the doors of Notre Dame were suddenly shut off, and immediately, tiny bits of white smoke began to emerge from the wooden roof of the church which was 295 feet tall.
A while later, this white smoke turned grey, and eventually black. This showed that there was a fire growing inside. As the flames turned orange, the situation became even worse. The police sprung into action, and cordoned off the area by blowing their whistles. By this time, the flames were spilling out from multiple parts of the church. The cause of the fire however, isn't known yet.
Thousands of tourists gathered, along the banks of the Seine were stunned. They gasped, as they covered their mouths in horror, and wiped away their tears.The Interior Ministry of France, said that 400 firefighters were battling to control the strong flames.A spokesperson for the church, Andre Finot, said that there have been no casualties.
Notre Dame has stood tall over Paris since 1200. The last time it was damaged, was during the French Revolution, in the late 1700’s. It has also survived two world wars without a scratch.People were shocked to hear about this fire, and expressed their sadness by saying that Paris was beheaded.The President of France, Emmanuel Macron has called this a “Terrible Tragedy”.The Mayor of Paris said that, the church has suffered many damages, however, they are trying to save the church’s remaining artwork.
