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The good news: we have a highly-detailed digital template for how to rebuild. From Bits to Atoms The world watched in horror Monday night while flames tore through the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. As fire consumed the roof and toppled its iconic central spire, it seemed as though the historic church could be lost forever — but it’s possible, thanks to cutting-edge imagining technology, that all hope may not be lost. Thanks to the meticulous work of Vassar art historian Andrew Tallon, every exquisite detail and mysterious clue to the building’s 13th-century construction was recorded in a digital archive...

<p>A wrought copper statue of a rooster that sat atop Notre-Dame has been found "battered" in the debris of the Paris cathedral following its devastating fire, France's culture ministry said.</p> <p>The statue is considered all the more important because it contains three holy relics -- including a fragment of the Crown of Thorns believed by Christians to have been worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion, placed there to protect Parisians.</p>

When I first walked into the cavernous nave of the Notre Dame Cathedral during Easter Week 1975, I was a senior on a swing through Paris with my high school French club. We were goofy teenagers, geeked out on the thrill of climbing the Eiffel Tower, seeing the Mona Lisa with our own eyes and trying to sneak wine into the rooms of our hostel when the chaperones weren’t looking. But on the cloudy afternoon of our trip to Notre Dame, we stepped off the bus and into a time tunnel whisking us back nearly a century. With the cornerstone...

"No Collusion-No Obsruction!" A tweet from President Trump repeating his consistent message since Robert Mueller's report was delivered to Attorney General William Barr..... Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's received many congratulatory messages from Arab leaders since his election victory last week..... Women's rights activists seeking to end the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia are due back in court in Riyadh.... As expected a veto from President Trump of legislation to shut down US support for the war Saudi Arabia leads in Yemen.... An extensive probe underway into the cause of the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris...

The 37-year-old Indiana mayor — a graduate of Harvard and Oxford universities, Rhodes Scholar, Afghanistan veteran and musician — sent social media ablaze Monday night when he delivered a touching message to the people of France in the wake of the Notre Dame blaze — in fluent French. English and French are just two of seven languages that Buttigieg speaks. “To the people of France, I would like to say that Notre Dame cathedral was like a gift to the human species,” the Democrat told a reporter from the French station BFM TV at a fundraiser in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “We...

One of Christendom’s greatest and oldest sanctuaries has suffered great damage but largely survived. According to whom you read, its devastation is a metaphor for European Christianity’s collapse or for its rebirth through fire. The mass horror over Notre Dame’s fire, and the immediate resolve for the cathedral’s full restoration, signify that France’s connection to Catholicism is not so remote as often imagined, True, it was a national political and cultural symbol. But it was chiefly an active church where the Eucharist is celebrated daily and whose architecture honors saints, Apostles and prophets. Neither France nor Europe nor the West...

The image of the Cathedral of Notre Dame engulfed in flames will remain seared in memories. I was made aware of it when a student burst into my office shouting that the magnificent church was on fire. I was about to head into my Major European Governments course, where we read George Weigel’s prescient work, The Cube and the Cathedral. The Cathedral in the book is Notre Dame. As the ensuing minutes proceeded, the conflagration only worsened, captured by the cataclysmic moment when the towering spire collapsed. It took me back to watching the collapse of the World Trade Center...

The chaplain to the Parisian fire brigade has been hailed as a hero after it was revealed he led efforts to save the priceless holy relics and art stored inside Notre-Dame Cathedral. The story of Father Jean-Marc Fournier was reported by Christian journalist of French Catholic Television station KTOTV, who revealed the chaplain went into the burning cathedral to retrieve relics and art before they could be damaged by fire and falling debris. Reports state the priest formed a human chain to carry the items away from danger. Following up that report, the Katholiek Nieuwsblad states Fr. Fournier has a...

The timbers of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris had been drying out for eight centuries, so when a fire started near the roof they burned quickly... The drying timbers, though beautiful before they were consumed, are a reminder of the drying out of religious faith in France, and in the rest of Europe, and to a lesser extent (possibly) in our own country. ... “You think this was a coincidence, think again. It was prophetic. Monday of Holy Week. Palm Sunday. Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. … You look at the responses. ‘We will rebuild it. It will stand again.’...

Good morning, I’m still reporting on: Who is Walking Across Notre Dame Facade???

A small fire broke out on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Monday, authorities said Tuesday afternoon. The fire broke out at a guard's booth on the Temple Mount, though Israeli police emphasize that the blaze was "quickly extinguished" and the site is currently open. The blaze broke out on Monday evening around the same time as Paris's Notre-Dame cathedral burned, police said. Israeli police said that the cause of the fire had yet to be determined, and that an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire had been launched. The Jordan-based Waqf, or Islamic trust, which administers the Temple...

Texas leaders are sharing their thoughts and condolences about the fire that has engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The fire began around 7:30 p.m. GMT+2 and raged out of control for more than 15 to 20 minutes and took down the iconic spire, which had been undergoing renovation.

London -- The massive fire that engulfed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris caused devastating damage to the structure, destroying its iconic spire and reducing its ancient wooden roof to ash. But Tuesday morning, as the sun rose over the city, much of the church's medieval stonework was still standing, and many people began to think about rebuilding.

Fox News’ Neil Cavuto hung up on Catholic League president Bill Donohue on Monday when he refused to stop speculating that the catastrophic Notre Dame fire could be related to other recent attacks on Catholic churches in Paris. “Well, Neil, if it is an accident, it’s a monumental tragedy. But forgive me for being suspicious. Just last month, a 17th-century church was set on fire in Paris. We’ve seen tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues, —” Donohue stated. As Donohue mentioned, a number of churches in France have been vandalized during the early part of 2019. Vandals...

French companies including LÂ’Oreal, LVMH and Kering have pledged millions of euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after it was severely damaged in a fire Monday night. LVMH added that it would give France access to its creative, architectural and financial experts to assist in the reconstruction. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple tweeted on Tuesday morning that the company will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dame as well. ================================================================================== French companies including LÂ’Oreal and luxury groups LVMH and Kering have pledged millions of euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris...

Several of France's wealthiest families are pledging millions to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral after Monday's devastating fire. So far, the totals from four major donors already exceed $500 million. Bernard Arnault, one of the world's richest men, is donating 200 million euros to fund the reconstruction of Notre Dame – that's about $226 million. Arnault and his family announced the donation via their company's Twitter account. Arnault is the head of LVMH, a massive company with 70 worldwide brands under its umbrella, including Louis Vuitton, Sephora and Marc Jacobs. With a net worth of more than $90 billion, Arnault...

Investigators are treating the fire that engulfed Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as an accident for now, the local prosecutor's office said Monday evening. Paris police will investigate the disaster as "involuntary destruction caused by fire" and have ruled out arson and potential terror-related motives for starting the blaze, officials said.

Jihadists may not have set the fire, but they’re certainly celebrating it. Many Muslims believe that the ruins and destruction of non-Muslim structures testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth: “Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.” “‘ALLAH EST GRAND’: Muslims laugh as blaze destroys Notre Dame cathedral during Holy Week,” by Kyle Olson, American Mirror, April...

PARIS—An alarm was raised at Notre Dame at 6:20 p.m. on Monday night—23 minutes before the structure was engulfed in flames—but officials found no sign of a fire. Firefighters who responded to a second alert raced to the scene but were unable to tame an inferno that ripped through the 12th century cathedral for the next 9 hours.

by Sheri Urban Monday's horrific fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris shocked viewers everywhere, as they witnessed the horrific destruction and collapse of its iconic spire, before firefighters were able to get it under control. While many prominent figures tweeted concern for the cathedral sacred to over a billion Catholics across the globe, controversial Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) put out a bizarre tweet that rubbed many the wrong way. "Art and architecture have a unique ability to help us connect across our differences and bring people together in important ways," posted Rep. Omar. "Thinking of the...