Just logged on and the first thing I see is news that the Notre Dame is burning. Apparently the towers will be saved but the roof and the beautiful spire are gone. God knows what’s left inside, but I fear that the magnificent garouilles [gargoyles] may have been lost with the roof.
I know it’s a strange thing to mourn something so small as a gargoyle, but when I was twenty-one, I visited the Notre Dame, climbed to the top and saw those gargoyles for myself. Touched them. Marvelled at the artistry. Fell in love with them. I even bought a plaster gargoyle from the hawkers down below and kept it for decades until it finally broke.
Love happens because it happens, and I’ve always loved the Notre Dame and those gargoyles.
I know the cathedral will be rebuilt. I know it will be even more beautiful in the end, but…it won’t be my Notre Dame any more. I shudder to think how much pain the people of Paris must be feeling right now.
Je vous aime
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
April 17th, 2019 at 9:40 am
Even when it’s rebuilt it will never be the Notre Dame, it will now and forever be the re-built Notre Dame. 😦
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April 17th, 2019 at 10:20 am
Yeah. The only bright spot is that the spire is/was relatively new – 1800-something – and the bell towers were saved. The heart is still there. 😦
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April 17th, 2019 at 8:16 am
I watched the news yesterday and my heart broke. Your right that it will be rebuilt beautifully, Andrea, but it will be different.
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April 17th, 2019 at 8:33 am
It’s funny that I believe in ‘change’, at an intellectual level. I associate it with renewal and growth, yet when something I love changes, I realise I want it to always stay the same. I guess it’s good that they managed to save as much as they did.
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April 17th, 2019 at 10:51 am
Great observation. I think “things” develop an aura over time, absorbing the energy around them – particularly a place like Notre Dame. So when we lose them, we lose their soul. That part is what hurts so badly.
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April 17th, 2019 at 7:55 pm
Yes! I know the Notre Dame is a place of worship, but I’ve only ever seen it as a place of beauty; humans investing stone and glass with their hopes and dreams. I hope the survival of the bell towers means that the building still retains something of its soul.
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April 17th, 2019 at 7:36 am
I was amazed at the crowds of people who gathered to pray, all silent, all staring at one thing, complete focus.
I am so glad it wasn’t an act of [the other]. At least with an accident, we can all focus in the same direction, towards reinstating the thing we love, and not lash outwards in anger …
Were they gargoyles or grotesques? I’d always thought grotesques, but I haven’t been there …
the gargoyles are water spouts, the grotesques do all the other jobs of a gargoyle, but don’t shed water from the building (I think – used it for a story once).
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April 17th, 2019 at 8:40 am
Yes. That is the one tiny ray of hope. And yes, Gargoyles. The Notre Dame had/has/will have both gargoyles and grotesques again. I guess what I love about gargoyles is the blending of form with function. The pic on the post wasn’t a gargoyle, just the first thing I found during a quick search. Didn’t have the heart for more. I hope that the effort to restore/rebuild the Notre Dame will bring people together. The world has had enough divisiveness for a generation.
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April 16th, 2019 at 4:54 pm
Thanks, Meeka! I also felt a strong connection to those gargoyles. I share your hope that all shall be restored. So sad to see so much history lost but a timely reminder that despite all the change in our world, we are still vulnerable to accidents.
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April 16th, 2019 at 10:16 pm
In our news tonight they said something about the statues and? gargoyles being saved as they’d already been taken down. Fingers crossed that it’s true.
I think we [humans] take comfort from the supposed permanence of our structures. Maybe that’s partly why it feels as if the rug has been pulled out from under our feet when they fall. I remember feeling sick at the sacking of Palmyra too. Beautiful things should be immortal even if we can’t. 🙂
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April 16th, 2019 at 10:39 am
Devastating. I went there in 2005. Climbed to the top to see the gargoyles and an amazing view of Paris, like you did. Saw the destruction this morning on my phone and teared up. So unbelievably sad.
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April 16th, 2019 at 10:21 pm
-hugs- I’m so glad you share my/our memories. Who knows if they’ll ever be possible again? Feels like the end of something. 😦
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April 16th, 2019 at 10:30 am
And that glorious stained glass window. So sad. We al share the Parisians pain.
Hugs
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April 16th, 2019 at 10:21 pm
-hugs back- yes. I heard on the news that one of the three had been saved. One… 😦
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April 16th, 2019 at 8:51 am
So, so sad. I saw it on the TVs in the lunchroom.
It survived so many wars. Joan of Arc saw it. It survived Napoleon. It survived WWI and WW2. It’s 900 years old…I am so very sad.
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April 16th, 2019 at 9:04 am
Such a cruel twist of fate. 😦
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