Locals react to Notre Dame fire

People in Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming are feeling the effects of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. News of the fire spread fast and shocked many. The news is especially devastating for the Catholic community as it begins the church’s holiest week of the year.

“I think, for even non-Catholics, it’s still a very important landmark,” said Catherine Smith, Idaho Falls resident and member of the Catholic Church. “But I think for Catholics themselves, just the historical significance that the church, the cathedral – it’s hard to put into words losing this piece of history.”

The cathedral held many historical and religious artifacts, including relics of what is believed to be a piece of the cross Jesus Christ died on and a thorn from his crown of thorns.

“The structure itself is a tragedy, but also losing all of the important pieces inside you know, the relics, whatever historical pieces have been there for 850 years. It’s truly devastating,” Smith said.

The art world is also mourning the building. It is considered one of the greatest works of Gothic architecture and took nearly 200 years to build.

“In this day and age, when we can erect such marvelous buildings in such a short amount of time, that this building took hundred of years to build and saw changes over the years,” said Amy Carr, with the Idaho Falls Arts Council. “The stained glass window was removed during World War II in order to protect it from bombing. We don’t know now if that’s been lost.”

A Pocatello woman currently living in Paris described scenes of people coming together and crying while watching the cathedral, which is such a huge part of the city, burn.

“This is a building that’s been there since the 1300s,” said Cartier Dior Eliasen. “This is such a huge part of the culture here. This building has seen a revolution. This building has seen wars. And it stood forever. And then, just in, like, a couple hours, it’s gone.”

There are reports that some historical artifacts were saved. The historic towers in front were also saved. French President Emmanuel Macron said the country will rebuild and has plans to launch an international fundraising campaign tomorrow.

The fire is still under investigation. The structure was undergoing massive renovations at the time.