Notre Dame hailed as monument to the ‘best of civilization’

tre Dame, a survivor of wars and revolutions, has stood for centuries as t merely greatest of Gothic cadrals and a towering jewel of Western architecture. It has stood, in words of one shell-shocked art expert, as “one of great monuments to best of civilization.”

And so it was that across globe on Monday, April 15 a stunned and helpless art world wept alongside people of France as a massive fire ravd beloved cadral.

“Civilization is just so fragile,” said Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at Metropolitan Museum of Art’s medieval Cloisters branch in New York, her voice shaking as she tried to put into words what cadral meant. “This great hulking monument of stone has been re since 1163. It’s come through so many trials.”

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“It’s t one relic, t one piece of glass — it’s totality,” she said, struggling to find words expansive eugh to describe cadral’s significance. “It’s very soul of Paris, but it’s t just for French people. For all humanity, it’s one of great monuments to best of civilization.”

Boehm spoke shortly before Paris fire chief anunced that firefighters h been able to finally save structure, including its two main towers. Much of roof was destroyed.

exact cause of blaze wasn’t kwn, but French media quoted fire brige as saying it was “potentially linked” to a 6 million euro ($6.8 million) revation project on church’s spire and its 250 tons of le. Paris Prosecutor’s office, which was investigating, said it was treating it as an accident.

Construction on tre Dame — French for “Our Ly” — began in 12th century and continued for nearly 200 years. It sustained dam and fell into neglect during French Revolution, but received renewed attention following 1831 publication of Victor Hugo’s vel “ Hunchback of tre-Dame.” This led to two deces of restorations, including cadral’s famous flying buttresses and a reconstructed spire.

While most kings were crowned elsewhere, Napoleon Bonaparte me sure he was crowned re in 1804 and married re in 1810.

Experts te that tre Dame is an aestically smooth synsis of different centuries. “It all blends toger so harmoniously,” said Nancy Wu, a medieval architecture expert, and educator at Met Cloisters. She said she was struck by delicacy of structure, as well as that in three stunning stained-glass rose windows and elegant exterior carvings.

“re are a lot of details that remind one of intricate lace,” she said, “even though it’s a building of cold hard stone.”

Aside from structure, art experts were concerned about fate of countless priceless artworks and artifacts inside, including relics like crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo later said on Twitter that crown of thorns and tunic of St Louis were among artifacts saved.

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“This cadral has a number of elements that are t just famous but religiously significant,” said Julio Bermudez, professor at school of architecture and planning at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. “One, of course, is crown of thorns ... faithful believe this is crown that Savior put on his he. It’s kept in a very safe place. But you kw fire is tremendously damaging.” He also expressed concern about beautiful stained-glass windows, which he called “really irreplaceable.”

Those worried about cadral’s durability could, perhaps, take solace in one of tre Dame’s more fascinating survival stories. In 1977, workers demolishing a wall in ar part of Paris discovered 21 hes belonging to 13th-century statues from cadral. kings of Judea, which were a prime example of Gothic art, h been taken from tre Dame during French Revolution and guillotined by antiroyalists who mistakenly thought y represented French kings.

hes, which were thought to be lost, are w displayed in capital’s Cluny Museum. mourning was t limited to art world. Religious leers, too, expressed deep sorrow over devastation.