The French reaction to the fire of Notre Dame: Singing hymns

The intellectuals don't seem to be mourning: indeed, some hated the cathedral and seem to be happy it was destroyed; others want to rebuild it as a multicultural shrine, bringing to mind the time when the French revolution remade it into a Temple of Reason with a harlot on the altar, presaging not a utopia of reason but the reign of terror and religious persecution, including the first modern genocide of the Vendee.

the assumption seemed to assume the French people were now secular and didn't care to rebuild a church as a church, i.e. a place to worship God.

But the spontaneous reaction of the French people was different: They sang hymns in mourning. And most of those singing the hymns were young people.


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....and later, there was this gathering
: ......

history lesson:===============

This made the news, but it is not the first Cathedral that has been destroyed by fire. And yes, these churches can be restored.

this old film is about the restoration of Reims cathedral, destroyed by a war related fire during WWI...




and the Cologne cathedral, located near the rail yards, was similarly destroyed during World War II.




so people managed to repair and restore these cathedrals, so there is hope that Notre Dame could quickly be restored.

This BBC article discusses the technical details of restoration with one man who helped rebuild York Cathedral, which was destroyed in a 1984 fire.

and a voice from the past reminds us:

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. 

Antoine de Saint-Exupery