Fire destroys much of Notre Dame, but priceless relics were spared

https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/fire-destroys-much-of-notre-dame-but-priceless-relics-were-spared/news-story/9cb57878f2cfd42343434d49a5c65b9b

What we know so far is that the Crown of Thorns — long considered Paris’ equivalent of the Crown Jewels — was rescued by firefighters.

The relic came from Jerusalem and dates back to Jesus’ crucifixion. It was kept with a fragment of the cross and one of the nails where Jesus Christ was said to have been crucified, but it’s not clear whether both were saved.

Smoke poured out of the cathedral’s spire before flames erupted shortly after 6.50pm local time (2.50am AEDT). The spire itself collapsed soon after and it’s not yet clear if the relics at the summit were able to be saved.

Laurent Ferri, a curator at the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University told Bloomberg the relics inside were “now likely reduced to ashes”.

If some were lost, many more were saved. The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said most of the significant artwork and holy objects inside were recovered.

France’s culture minister Franck Riester shared images of priceless artworks being loaded into trucks.