Notre Dame

Like many people, I spent today transfixed by horror and sadness as Notre Dame de Paris burned. As of this writing, it seems that the main stone structure has been saved; there are conflicting reports as to how extensive the damage to the interior might be. The wooden roof is definitely gone, along with the iconic spire and at least one of the rose windows. (I was particularly struck by this photo of the fire, a moment of surprising beauty in a time of deep sadness.)

I went to Paris once, in 2001. Our hotel was just down the river from the Louve, so also quite near Notre Dame, and we saw it from the outside pretty much every day, just walking around. We also toured the inside, and although it wasn't the cathedral I was most excited to see at the time (that would be our day trip to Chartres), I was still moved and overwhelmed by its beauty, and by the sense of history. We always meant to get back to Paris someday, but we never have so far. Now it's hard to imagine it. As a former student of architecture, I experience a city through its buildings, and it's impossible to picture Paris without Notre Dame -- just as I can't think of a Rome without the Colosseum, or a London without Big Ben, or a San Francisco without the Bay Bridge. Notre Dame isn't gone, but it is forever changed, and it's okay to grieve what's been lost.

(I mistyped the subject line as "Notre Damn", and I almost kept it that way, but decided it would be too disrespectful. Yet it seems an appropriate sentiment in a way. So I immortalize the typo in this note instead.)