As people across the world mourned the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral Monday, ISIS celebrated.
Just days before Easter, an ISIS-affiliated group hailed the destruction of the historic monument to Christ as “retribution and punishment” and circulated a poster of the burning cathedral with a mocking message, “Bonne Journée,” French for “Have a nice day.”
Firefighters put out the fire Tuesday. The roof and spire were destroyed, but miraculously, the building was saved from total destruction.
Nevertheless, Parisians and people across the world were left devastated at the destruction of the most famous Gothic cathedral in the world and an irreplaceable symbol of Paris, Christendom and Western civilization. The fire was doubly devastating to many Catholics, as it occurred in the middle of Holy Week, just days before Easter.
ISIS group celebrates Notre Dame disaster
But the pain felt by Westerners was a reason for rejoicing for a group of radical jihadists. Al-Muntasir Media, an Islamic State propaganda group, shared a poster in French of the burning cathedral online with the words, “Have a nice day,” the Daily Mail reported, citing a counter-terrorism group, The Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. The ISIS group said the blaze was “retribution and punishment” and added: “Its [Notre Dame’s] construction began in 1163 and ended in 1345. It’s time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.”
(Poster) Muntasir Media (Unofficial #IslamicState): #NotreDame Burns #Paris, #France https://t.co/FVufgc8vDL pic.twitter.com/MxEmpojfxx
— TRACterrorism.org (@TRACterrorism) April 16, 2019
The fire set off some speculation of arson amid recent reports of vandalism targeting Catholic churches across France. It also recalled a terror scare outside Notre Dame in 2016 when three women were arrested for a terror plot near the cathedral, although they were not targeting the church.
Al-Muntasir has shared propaganda celebrating terror attacks in France in the past. While the group celebrated Notre Dame’s destruction, it did not claim any involvement in the incident, and authorities have ruled out arson and terrorism, at least for now.
Paris prosecutors have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, which they are treating as an accident. Investigators want to talk to renovators who were working on an extensive project to restore the cathedral. The blaze is thought to be connected with the 20-year renovation project.
World mourns as fire devastates Notre Dame
Two fire alarms went off on Monday evening. The first, at 6:20 p.m., prompted a fire check that did not discover a fire. The blaze wasn’t found until another check 23 minutes later discovered a fire on the roof.
The fire spread around the renovation area, which contained 500 tons of wood, to the top of the building. Onlookers in Paris and around the world watched in horror as the cathedral’s spire was engulfed in flames and collapsed, sending puffs of smoke into a sky lit with an infernal orange. Dramatic aerial shots showed the roof totally gone as the fire raged within the church.
IMAGE: Notre Dame Cathedral burning pic.twitter.com/Aq63PZsuIn
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) April 15, 2019
Parisians kept a vigil over their beloved church with prayers and hymns through the night, as thousands amassed along the banks of the Seine around the Île de la Cité, the island where the cathedral is located. Some 400 firefighters raced to put out the fire, and by Tuesday morning, the flames were extinguished. Miraculously, the cathedral was still standing. One firefighter and two policemen were injured.
Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet declared the church saved Monday night, but the spire and two-thirds of the roof were destroyed. What was left gave reason for hope. Much of its priceless art, including its three stained-glass Rose Windows, is believed to be safe. The cathedral’s bell towers are also intact, and relics like the Crown of Thorns, said to have been worn by Christ on the cross, were rescued. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, rushed inside the Cathedral to save the artifact.
Moving images of Parisian firefighters entering the cathedral, with the golden cross gleaming untouched from the altar, circulated through social media. The images appear to show much of the inside of the church, including the nave, wooden pews, and altar, intact. However, rubble was left scattered on the floor from the collapsed roof, and there are massive holes in the vaulted ceiling.
Some artifacts had been previously removed by renovators days before the fire, including statues of the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists. But sadly, the “forest” of timber that formed the church’s roof has been destroyed. A culture expert said that France no longer has trees big enough to replace the more than 800-year-old timber that formed its ancient roof.
A nation in mourning looks to rebuild
The fire brought a rare moment of unity for embattled president Emmanuel Macron, as he launched a funding campaign and issued a call to rebuild the precious cathedral with the world’s “greatest talent.” Donations are pouring in from billionaires, local governments, and ordinary people to help. Experts estimate that it may decades to rebuild the 12th-century Gothic Cathedral, which took almost two hundred years to build.
“The worst has been avoided, although the battle has not yet been totally won,” Macron said.
With its gargoyles and flying buttresses, Notre Dame is the most famous Gothic cathedral in the world and one of the most cherished works of architecture in civilization. At more than 800 years old, it has survived plagues, revolutions, and two world wars.
That such a magnificent building was almost destroyed by a random, and seemingly preventable, fire after so many centuries left Parisians and people around the world bewildered and distraught. On Tuesday morning, Parisians gathered to view what remained of the beloved cathedral. For some, there was a glimmer of hope amidst the destruction.
“The ceiling was known as the ‘the forest’ because of all the thousands of trees that were cut to build it. I feel very sad but also I am happy that most of the building is still there,” a Parisian art historian said.
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