After dousing blaze, France vows to rebuild Notre Dame

The steeple of the gothic edifice had been undergoing an 11-million-euro (Rs 86.31 crore) overhaul financed by the French state to repair damage inflicted by time, pollution and the weather. Pics/AFP

Firefighters declared success on Tuesday morning in an over 12-hour battle to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof, but spared its bell towers.

Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of the restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure, but that news has done nothing to ease the national mourning. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral that he called "a part of us" and appealed for help to do so.

As the country woke up in collective sadness, billionaires and local governments pledged nearly 500 million euros (USD 565 million) to help restore the cathedral, with foundations and crowd sourcing sites also launching fund-raising drives.

Bernard Arnault and Francois-Henri Pinault

France's richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million). Businessman Francois-Henri Pinault and his billionaire father Francois Pinault also said they were immediately giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, to help finance repairs.

Pledges were also pouring in from anonymous donors to groups including the privately run French Heritage Foundation, which said it had already secured pledges totalling 1.6 million euros. On a more modest scale, a fund set up by an "anonymous Parisian" on the Leetchi fundraising platform had topped 20,000 euros at midday Tuesday.

Rebuilding could take decades

Rebuilding the Notre Dame cathedral could take decades, experts warned Tuesday. Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral, said: "I'd say decades. The damage will be significant. But we are lucky in France to have a network of excellent heritage restoration companies, whether small-time artisans or bigger groups."

Fire mistakenly linked to 9/11

A YouTube fact-check feature which is meant to tackle misinformation accidentally tagged live broadcasts of the Notre Dame fire with details about the 9/11 terror attacks. A spokesman for YouTube said the text box feature had been disabled for live streams related to the fire. "These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call," the spokesman said.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates