renaissance-art: Incredibly saddened by the scenes of Notre Dame burning. The cathedral has stood an
renaissance-art: Incredibly saddened by the scenes of Notre Dame burning. The cathedral has stood and survived so many centuries, serving as a backdrop for innumerable significant moments in French history. Despite knowing the continuous labor necessary to keep such an old structure functional it is easy to take Notre Dame’s continued presence for granted. Twelve years ago, I took my first trip across the Atlantic to the city I’d longed to see most since I was a child, Paris. Walking down the Seine and seeing Notre Dame for the first time remains such a vivid memory. For over a decade this place had only existed for me in images and history books, and now, here it was, in all its towering glory. No longer a flat, still photo I could grasp in my hands but a stone behemoth rising over the city. This is not the first time Notre Dame has suffered or even burned. Eight centuries cannot pass without leaving scars. No matter the damage everything can be rebuilt, and we have records of artifacts that will not survive. Firefighters are attempting to remove as many items as possible. Several statues had already been removed for restoration. As of posting no one has been wounded or killed for which we should all be grateful. Hopefully, this will be an event future visitors learn about a few centuries from now when they visit the cathedral, the restoration serving as yet another testament to Notre Dame’s enduring legacy in Paris.(Image: Map of Paris c. 1615) -- source link