Dollieh Sanctuary

I am heartbroken about the loss of so much artwork and history.

Apparently the main structure has been saved. And they removed a lot (or all) of the statues a few days ago as part of the renovations. It doesn't look quite as horrible as it first seemed. Still tragic though

I hope they haven't lost all the beautiful stained glass windows. They would be irreplaceable.

The structure, meaning the support walls and the bell towers were saved. The inside is heavily damaged and last I saw all the stained glass windows are gone.

While statuary were saved due to the renovations, items such as relics may have been destroyed. This was an utterly devastating event. Even if they rebuild, it will never be the same.

Devastating is the word for this! So much history! So much beauty! So much architectural significance and artistry, in addition to the significance to the Church.

I don't understand how a "small fire" could have been allowed to grow to such proportions so quickly. I could not believe what I was hearing when I switched on the radio earlier today.

Several hours ago I had read that one of the three iconic "rose windows" had survived, but more recent reports suggest that is no longer the case.

All the bold talk about "rebuilding" is a lot of nonsense. You cannot rebuild 900 years of history. You cannot rebuild things for which the techniques are forgotten or lost. You cannot rebuild something like this when the first words anyone utters is about the cost.

This is a tragic loss to the history and culture of the world.

They can never rebuild it to be the same, but I think they will try and should. It is too much of an iconic structure to be allowed to die like this.

As for the fire spreading fast - so much of the interior and the roof were wooden. It was, in many ways, a disaster waiting to happen. Old - probably ancient - dry wood, who knows what sort of coatings or substances have been put on it over the centuries...no, I'm not surprised at how fast it spread, I just hope there was time to remove anything they could. And thankful there seems to not have been any human loss.

I'm not catholic myself, but if there is a legitimate fund raising effort I will contribute to try and bring it back.

The fire started in the roof, 13,000 old growth oaks culled in the 1200s were used to make the roof. The wood was all dry as tinder.

In a modern house a small fire can spread to a raging inferno in five minutes. In an ancient building like that...? It's amazing that they were able to salvage anything and that no human lives were lost.

From what I heard the relics were saved as were some other objects that could be removed. The roof top statues had been removed a few days ago for restoration.

Having taken art history rebuilding and repairing cathedrals when something happens to them is part of their history. In the words of French poets- harder, better, faster, stronger.

Saw this from someone involved in the restoration earlier (Source: NY Times, can't find the article link again):

Baumgartner and a colleague, Alexandre Decaillot, had spent a week working at the cathedral, removing copper statues for restoration offsite. “I’m completely nauseated,” Baumgartner told me. He added, of the effort to restore the cathedral, “In wanting to give her a second youth, we have perhaps destroyed her.”

DollyKim wrote: In the words of French poets- harder, better, faster, stronger.

Thank you! I have a better ear worm than Nik Kershaw's The Riddle now