‘This tragedy impacts all French people’: Salma Hayek’s husband and father-in-law pledge 100 million euros to rebuild iconic Notre Dame after inferno

Businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Salma Hayek, and his billionaire far Francois Pinault said y were immediately giving 100 million euros from ir company, Artemis, to help finance repairs after an infer engulfed Paris' iconic tre Dame cadral. 

RE: 'Hunchback Of tre-Dame' Tops Bestseller Lists After Fire

Artemis is holding company owning auction house Christie's and main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. 

A statement from Francois-Henri Pinault said "this trdy impacts all French people" and "everyone wants to restore life as quickly as possible to this jewel of our herit." 

Firefighters declared success Tuesday in a more than 12-hour battle to extinguish an infer engulfing Paris' iconic tre Dame cadral that claimed its spire and roof, but spared its bell towers and purported Crown of Christ. 

What remained was a blackened shell of monument immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 vel " Hunchback of tre Dame," a building that h survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated amid revation works at start of Catholic Easter week. 

Its iconic twin bell towers remained visibly intact. Paris officials said world famous 18th-century organ that boasts 8,000 pipes also appeared to have survived, along with or treasures inside cadral, after a plan to safeguard herit was quickly put into action. 

Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire described authorities' "ermous relief" at salvaging of pieces such as purported Crown of Christ, which were transported to a "secret location" after fire. Statues removed just days ago for restoration work were also spared. 

At dawn, twin 69-meter towers swarmed with building specialists and architects. 

" entire fire is out," declared Paris firefighters' spokesman Gabriel Plus, ding that workers were "surveying movement of structures and extinguishing smoldering residues." 

" task is — w risk of fire has been put aside — about building, how structure will resist," said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez in front of cadral. 

One of city's five senior vicars, Philippe Marsset, told AP: "If God intervened (in blaze) it was in cour of firefighters." 

"tre Dame was destroyed but soul of France was t," Michel Aupetit, archbishop of Paris, said on RMC rio. 

Officials consider fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at global architectural treasure. 

Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said investigation would be "long and complex." Fifty investigators were working on probe, he said, and would be interviewing workers from five companies hired to work on revations to cadral's roof, where flames first broke out. 

Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday but fire was found. second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m. and a blaze was discovered in roofing at that point. 

News that fire was probably accidental has done thing to ease national mourning. 

"tre Dame has survived revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works," said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. 

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild cadral that he called "a part of us" and appealed for help to do so. 

As France woke up in collective sness, its richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for reconstruction. 

A communique said Arnault family was "in solidarity with this national trdy, and join in reconstruction of this extraordinary cadral, a symbol of France, of its herit and togerness." 

12th-century church is home to an 18th-century organ, relics, stained glass and or works of art of incalculable value, and is a leing tourist attraction. 

" organ is a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes. It has t burnt, but one can tell wher it has been damd by water. body kws if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored," Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told AP. 

Repairing cadral — including 800-year-old wooden beams that me up its roof — presents challenges. 

cadral's roof cant be rebuilt exactly as it was before fire because "we don't, at moment, have trees on our territory of size that were cut in 13th century," he said, ding roof restoration work would have to use new techlogies. 

Religious statues removed last week from cadral roof as part of a restoration of monumental Paris church's towering spire were spared. 

3-meter-tall copper figures, which looked over city from tre Dame's 96-meter-high peak, were sent to southwestern France for work that is part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) revation project on cadral spire and its 250 tons of le. 

On Thursday, public got a first ground-level look at statues, representing 12 apostles and four evangelists, when a huge crane lowered m onto a truck. 

An outpouring of grief and offers of help have poured in from around world. 

Pope Francis prayed for French Catholics and Parisian population "under shock of terrible fire." Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said on Twitter pope "is close to France" and offering prayers "for all those who are trying to cope with this dramatic situation." 

Vatican's culture minister, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, described cadral as a "living creature" that has been reborn before and will continue to be "beating heart" of France. 

Ravasi, whose office oversees patrimony of Catholic Church worldwide, said he was moved by scenes of faithful and tourists weeping as tre Dame went up in flames, and suggested art experts at Vatican Museums could play a role in rebuilding. 

Germany and Poland were among countries offering assistance. "We are united in sorrow. tre Dame is part of cultural herit of mankind and a symbol for Europe," German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass wrote on Twitter. 

In Poland, where Warsaw and many or places were rebuilt from rubble after World War II, President Andrzej Duda offered experts in reconstruction of historic buildings. 

Egypt's top Muslim cleric expressed sness, describing tre Dame as a "historic architectural masterpiece." Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Muslim world's seat of learning, wrote on Facebook: "Our hearts are with our brors in France." 

Egypt's Coptic Church expressed "profound sness," with he of Egypt's Copts, Pope Tawroz II, describing fire as a "huge loss for entire humanity." 

RE: Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Riteish Deshmukh And Ors From B-Town React To tre Dame Fire Trdy