by kragniz on 4/15/19, 5:22 PM with 521 comments
by kweks on 4/15/19, 7:04 PM
The restoration works that were under place are a result in part of our recommended actions.
The spire was incredible. It was one oak trunk, connected with a "Scarf Joint", or "Jupitre" in French (Bolt-of-lightning joint)
There were the names of the last guys to inspect it in the 1930s, engraved at the top. There was a french ww2 bullet embedded in the spire, presumably shot at a germany sniper who was in the spire...
Everything in the roof was antique wood. Anyone that went into the roof was paranoid of fire.
It's a very, very sad day.
As a celebration, I'm throwing up some photos that we'd never published from our study.
by JshWright on 4/15/19, 6:14 PM
As a rule of thumb, the water flow necessary to extinguish a burning structure is the volume of the structure (in feet) divided by 100. The resulting number is (in rough numbers) the amount of water you need, in gallons per minute. For a fire this size, you're looking at tens of thousands of gallons of water per minute. It's just not possible.
by timothevs on 4/15/19, 6:41 PM
Yes, I know the Notre Dame will be built again. But that might not happen till after I am long gone.
by css on 4/15/19, 6:02 PM
by berberous on 4/15/19, 6:53 PM
“And this has been standing here for centuries. The premier work of man perhaps in the whole Western world, and it’s without a signature: Chartres. A celebration to God’s glory and to the dignity of man. All that’s left, most artists seem to feel these days, is man. Naked, poor, forked radish. There aren’t any celebrations. Ours, the scientists keep telling us, is a universe which is disposable. You know, it might be just this one anonymous glory of all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand, choiring shout of affirmation, which we choose when all our cities are dust, to stand intact, to mark where we have been, to testify to what we had it in us to accomplish.
Our works in stone, in paint, in print, are spared, some of them for a few decades or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash. The triumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life. We’re going to die. ‘Be of good heart,’ cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will all be silenced — but what of it? Go on singing. Maybe a man’s name doesn’t matter all that much.”
by sawjet on 4/15/19, 6:30 PM
by cc_nixon on 4/15/19, 5:55 PM
by geff82 on 4/15/19, 6:49 PM
by danso on 4/15/19, 6:37 PM
edit: "compared to the average person"
by benl on 4/15/19, 6:37 PM
by ineedasername on 4/15/19, 9:51 PM
However, as I watched it burn, the thought uppermost to my mind was the nearly 200 years it took to build, and therefore 200 years worth of sucking money and resources from the local (and probably some non-local) populace. And this during a period of history when many lived in abject poverty. How much more might have been added to society if those resources had been used to better effect?
It reminds me of how, even in modern times, the Catholic church has done much the same. My father grew up in the north eastern US in a poor urban area. His family was dirt poor and struggled to get 3 basic meals a day. Yet the local parish pressured, guilted, shamed, and instilled fear in the parishioners to get them to give 10% of their income to the church.
So yes, I mourn Notre Dame, but I can't separate it in my head from the financial predations of the church on its followers.
by anigbrowl on 4/15/19, 11:18 PM
Locals report the damage may not have been as severe as feared. http://johannesviii.tumblr.com/post/184208321259/jonphaedrus...
First photographs from inside the building are encouraging: https://twitter.com/becket/status/1117919627642900480
by Datenstrom on 4/15/19, 6:13 PM
by dmitryminkovsky on 4/15/19, 6:41 PM
[0]: http://worldwartwo.filminspector.com/2014/07/shootout-at-col...
by marricks on 4/15/19, 6:15 PM
> Firefighters were rushing to try to contain a fire that has broken out at the cathedral, which police said began accidentally and was linked to building work at the site.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/15/notre-dame-fir...
by throwaway123032 on 4/15/19, 6:13 PM
by krisrm on 4/15/19, 6:27 PM
by vonnik on 4/15/19, 6:26 PM
We were drunk and it was dark and late. We hopped the iron fence in the back, and scaled the southern wall that runs along the nave, where the flying buttresses are.
To get to the top, you climbed the walls and roof outside the building until you reached the base of the spire, and then you climbed inside the spire up several stories linked by rough wooden ladders, and then you had to get out and climb outside again, on a series of metal hooks, to get to the top where you could touch a metal globe and cross.
There was very little security (just one trap door inside the spire that you had to climb through, where you had to make sure breaking an electrical current didn't set off an alarm).
It was all very old, obviously, and old in a way of places where no one ever goes. Little used, and therefore neglected. Was the wiring on the trapdoor well insulated? I doubt it.
There was a small group of climbers in Paris who knew about this. Maybe a couple dozen people. One of them would occasionally lead a small group of friends: free climbing to the top of one segment of the wall, and then letting down a rope to help up those behind.
Notre Dame is at the center of Paris. There is a bronze marker in front of the church called "kilometre zero," from which all distances along French national routes are measured. From the top of the spire, the city fanned out like petals around a pistil. Paris was made to be seen from that one point, where no one ever went except a few climbers and pigeons, and maybe an adventurous priest.
The climber who took us up to near the top of the spire lay himself down on a rafter in its hollow interior, above the void, and fell asleep. Like I said, we were drunk, and it was all very dumb and dangerous.
When we came back down, about a foot before the last person touched the ground again, his rope broke. He picked it up, stared at it for a second, murmured "C'est mort", and threw it away.
by bhandziuk on 4/15/19, 5:50 PM
by theclaw on 4/15/19, 8:50 PM
by NeoBasilisk on 4/15/19, 6:33 PM
by berbec on 4/15/19, 9:06 PM
by nathanlee on 4/15/19, 8:17 PM
by odyssey7 on 4/15/19, 8:19 PM
My undergrad's main building - definitely nothing comparable to this cathedral, but from a time where fire fighting wasn't that great - went through this three times, and was always restored. It seems like this happened a lot, and was something builders considered.
by wespiser_2018 on 4/15/19, 10:30 PM
by yters on 4/15/19, 7:04 PM
by nine_k on 4/15/19, 7:35 PM
https://twitter.com/grouchybagels/status/1117852841530368000...
by qubitcoder on 4/15/19, 6:58 PM
by bjourne on 4/15/19, 6:40 PM
by cwkoss on 4/15/19, 5:49 PM
by bArray on 4/15/19, 7:20 PM
> Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be
> used to put it out. Must act quickly!
From what I understand about fires, a lot of damage also comes from the act of putting them out. If it doesn't have fire damage it will probably have water damage. Also, I imagine the stone may not appreciate rapid cooling.
> The Paris prosecutor's office said it has opened an
> inquiry into the incident.
[Pure speculation]: One of the first thoughts that came to mind is that this is deliberate. Specifically regarding the Yellow Vests protests that are still very much ongoing, despite reduced media attention [1]. Perhaps this was in anticipation of the debate results [2].
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-13/yellow-ve...
[2] https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/04/13/emmanuel-macron-...
by franciscop on 4/15/19, 6:45 PM
Though the fire seems quite intense, not sure how much will be preserved.
by anon491throw on 4/15/19, 5:47 PM
by duxup on 4/15/19, 6:03 PM
https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/105852910-155535029154...
by cdfky on 4/15/19, 9:29 PM
by Causality1 on 4/15/19, 8:13 PM
by scop on 4/15/19, 7:55 PM
by scop on 4/15/19, 7:15 PM
by gdubs on 4/15/19, 10:49 PM
by gigatexal on 4/15/19, 7:00 PM
by aaomidi on 4/15/19, 9:05 PM
by jpfed on 4/15/19, 8:23 PM
by ggm on 4/15/19, 9:14 PM
by StephenAmar on 4/15/19, 6:04 PM
by mongol on 4/15/19, 6:14 PM
by setquk on 4/15/19, 6:18 PM
by interlocutor on 4/15/19, 7:02 PM
by tatiner on 4/15/19, 8:09 PM
by tatiner on 4/15/19, 8:12 PM
by RichardCA on 4/15/19, 7:02 PM
TL;DR - The danger of fire has always been an issue in the design and construction of these cathedrals.
by nkkollaw on 4/15/19, 6:20 PM
by mudil on 4/15/19, 7:07 PM
by pastor_elm on 4/15/19, 5:51 PM
by bennettfeely on 4/15/19, 6:00 PM
https://aleteia.org/2019/02/16/string-of-attacks-on-french-c...
