Notre Dame fire, structure is safe. Work is being done to save the objects

Speaking on the major fire that hit Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Interior Ministry Secretary Laurent Nunez said that “the fire has decreased in intensity and it can be thought that the structure of Notre-Dame is safe, especially the north tower.” Nunez was echoed by Jean-Claude Gallet, commander of the Paris fire department, whose statements were reported by Le Figaro and other French newspapers, “the structure is safe and has been preserved in its entirety.” The call, however, is to remain very cautious because the situation is still decidedly changeable.

Meanwhile, authorities have already opened an investigation for “unintentional destruction by fire.” Nunez said the cause of the unprecedented fire is still unknown: Notre Dame, in its centuries-long history, had never been on fire.

At the moment, firefighters continue to try to tame the flames, which have not yet been extinguished, but at the same time, together with personnel from the French Ministry of Culture, they are engaged in operations to rescue the artworks and liturgical objects stored in the building. Among the first objects rescued from the cathedral are the relic of the crown of thorns and the tunic of St. Louis, two objects of worship that are highly revered by the French: the first is the crown that, according to tradition, Christ allegedly wore during the crucifixion and that was purchased by Louis IX of France in 1239 in Constantinople, where it had been moved in ancient times from the Holy Land, and it is a relic that attracts a great many Christians to Paris these very days, during Holy Week (on Good Friday it is shown to the faithful). It is kept in a gold and crystal reliquary made by the goldsmith Poussielgue-Rusand, designed by architect Jules-Godefroy Astruc, in 1896. The other is the tunic that Louis IX himself, who is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, used to wear.

Pictured by the French Ministry of the Interior is Notre-Dame in flames.

Notre Dame fire, structure is safe. Work is being done to save the objects

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