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#NotreDame is "just" a building, of course -- but it's one that represents the work and lives of thousands of people. It survived the French Revolution and two World Wars. It has inspired generations of artists. Being inside it is awe-inspiring in the truest sense.
It took 100 years to build #NotreDame -- and it has been under continuous improvement/renovation ever since. The history of the organ alone is incredible. Some of the finest instrument designers humanity has ever produced have had a hand in building it over centuries. 
#NotreDame's rose windows date back eight centuries -- some still containing the original stained glass. The south window -- the one you see in pictures from the plaza between the two towers -- has been repeatedly damaged and restored over the years.
One more: #NotreDame was built at a time when literacy was a luxury. Aside from being beautiful pieces of craftsmanship, the building's carvings and sculptures helped illustrate biblical stories for parishioners who couldn't read.
The history of #NotreDame is one of resilience and rebuilding.
From Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame:" Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin.
Que Notre-Dame soit comme amour.
From Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame:" Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin.
Que Notre-Dame soit comme amour.
The venerated crown of thorns gifted to King Louis IX in the 13th Century and stored at #NotreDame has been saved from the fire, along with other priceless artworks and relics, per Parisian news sources.
Like everything else Notre-Dame-related, its provenance is worth a read.
Like everything else Notre-Dame-related, its provenance is worth a read.
Night has fallen on the efforts to save #NotreDame cathedral in #Paris. Officials don't seem optimistic about saving the structure.
A few more shots from @AFP of the effort to save #NotreDame. You can see the entire roof has collapsed due to the flames.
I've turned this thread into a post about the history of #NotreDame -- and how destruction and restoration have been with it all along -- here: wusa9.com/article/news/w…
One of the first photos from the interior of #NotreDame from Reuters' Philippe Wojazer shows the altar's cross illuminated by spotlight, with the Coustous' Pietà seemingly unharmed underneath. The statue was one of the few that avoided mutilation during the French Revolution.
Here's a closer look of the Coustous' Pietà (Lionel Allorge, Creative Commons). The figures of Mary and Jesus are surrounded by bronze angels each carrying one of the instruments of the Passion of the Christ. Flanking the whole assembly are statues of two French kings.
I mentioned earlier I have photos I took of #NotreDame hanging in my apartment. Here they are.
More good news from #NotreDame this evening: The cathedral's magnificent organ -- built and rebuilt over the centuries by master craftsmen, among them François Thierry and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll -- was spared from the fire, along with the rose windows.
