Virtual Visit: Notre-Dame de Paris, Part 3: Fire and Aftermath

To mark the one year anniversary of the tragic April 15, 2019 fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, this virtual visit will take a deeper look at the context, events, and aftermath of the fire. The third in a three-part series on the cathedral, this visit builds on the historical evidence related to Gothic engineering and the "long life" of the cathedral outlined in the two previous visits. If you haven't looked at those visits yet, it's probably a good idea to go back and start there before proceeding with today's content.

This visit is a story in three parts: first, an look at the events leading up to and including the day of the fire; second, an exploration of historical precedents for restoration and how they might impact Notre-Dame moving forward; and third, a more speculative analysis of what we might expect from the restorations of the cathedral in the coming years.

Before we begin, the usual caution: the primary venue for this content is the stories feature on my Instagram page. All of the virtual visits will be saved in my story highlights. The purpose of the blog posts is to allow a greater audience (especially those without social media accounts) to benefit from the same content.

With that in mind, let's jump right in.

There you have it, a brief look at the past, present, and (possibilities for the) future of Notre-Dame de Paris. Though the Instagram survey in the last slide can't be accessed in this blog version of the visit, I'd still love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to leave a comment below, or email me directly to let me know what you've thought of these visits, and what you hope to see from the restoration of the building in the coming years.