Amid Notre-Dame’s Destruction, There’s Hope for Restoration

As the world watched in horror, Notre-Dame Cathedral erupted in flames on Monday evening in Paris, sending massive plumes of smoke rising from the Île de la Cité in the medieval heart of the city. Flames swiftly consumed the entire roof of the structure, and elements of the cathedral, including the central spire over the crossing where the transepts intersect the nave and chancel, collapsed into the blaze. One of the world’s greatest surviving works of Gothic architecture—a monument that had endured for more than 800 years—appeared to be in danger of complete destruction.

But it has survived: While the damage to the interior of the historic building is still uncertain, the fire did not consume Notre-Dame, according to authorities in Paris. The blaze stopped short of the two belfry towers that house the cathedral’s immense bells, the site immortalized by Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. “The worst has been avoided even though the battle is not completely won,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.