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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Notre Dame Fire

    Notre+Dame+Fire

    On Monday, April 15th the historic Notre Dame Cathedral caught on fire in Paris. Firefighters officially put out the intense fire at 3:30 am on Tuesday, nearly 12 hours later. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. The bell towers were still intact, as were the 18th-century organ that boasts 8,000 pipes. Tragically, the Notre Dame Spire did collapse as a result of flames ravaging the roof.

    Officials say that the fire could have been caused by renovation work–the cathedral was in the midst of a $6.8 million renovation project. Investigators are going to visit the site and are going to talk to the workers to see if they can get any more information about the cause of the fire.

    A campaign is already in the works to rebuild this city’s symbolic church. At least $339 million has already been pledged to help rebuild the cathedral.

    The cathedral has a lot of history behind it–which makes this event even that much more tragic. The Notre Dame Cathedral started being built in 1163. The two towers were finalized in 1240-1250. The cathedral is 128 meters for the overall length.

    Notre Dame is a popular tourist site in the heart of France’s capital, Paris. The number of visitors that the cathedral receives per year is approximately around 13 million. The average waiting time for a visit is two hours. Senior, Kelly Babic, remarks, “Although I have never been,  it is still very sad that something so devastating like this could happen. I can’t imagine what the city is going through with the loss of such a monumental piece of their history in flames.”

    Notre Dame has stood in Paris for 856 years. It is 726 years older than the Eiffel tower, 276 years older than Joan Of Arc, and 640 years older than the USA.

    Even though many in the world, including myself, have never even seen the cathedral I know it is still a catastrophic event that many will remember. The art and history this church possessed will live on in pictures and stories.

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