5 years ago I was working out at my gym when I looked up at the TV screens when on the treadmill and saw this…
I was devastated. I got off the treadmill with tears streaming down my cheeks. I just couldn’t believe my eyes as I adored Notre Dame so much.
I’ll never forget first seeing Notre Dame while walking the streets during my first ever trip to Paris. The moment I first saw her, I knew her, even though I’d never even been to Paris in my life, I really knew her. I was suddenly transported as if into a long lost memory of the construction of this historical cathedral. I then felt the feeling of falling to my death from the scaffolding surrounding her construction. Could it be I had been there? Been part of her construction? Had I taken a fall and died as part of the hundreds of workers and artisans who built this unbelievable structure? I shivered even though it was a warm June day in Paris. I then shook it off. This wasn’t something possible, not something I believed in.
However my mourning her loss was deeply felt. I feared that I, nor anyone else, would ever get to walk through her doors again surrounding oneself in the artistic beauty of her interior, feel the serenity within her nor would anyone be able to climb the stairs to the lookout atop the two front towers to marvel at the views of Paris. The feeling of loss was much deeper than just a tourist who had visited her a few times, but more like the loss of something that was a part of me. The thought entered my mind about my first experience. Why was my connection as a non religious person so deep? Was there a possibly a chance that I had lived another life before? Could that falling to my death feeling have actually been a memory?
Today this video popped into my feed. Paris has actually done this. Paris has actually brought her back to life. I have hope, I have hope that I, and millions of others, will once again walk through her doors and experience the magnificence of her presence, her beauty and her serenity.
Fearsome Beard 
At that time I was working with a pastor who hated organ music. Having listened to You Tube recital posts by a couple of the on-staff ND organists shortly before the fire I was well aware of and devastated by the possible loss of that magnificent facility. It was with some “this will show you” irony that I was able to tell our organ hater minister that there were two especially notable saved items that escaped the fire- a large cross (he was definitely into that symbol) and (Yessss!) the Cavialle-Coll organ. So there, Rev. Organ-hating Pastor. That shows you what side God was on in that discussion!
Millions or billions of Euros later it is all getting put back together.
Such a magnificent place.
Yes, what a shocking fire and loss for one of the world’s treasures. France did a marvelous restoration job and within a pretty short time frame too!
I will plan a trip back to Paris in 2026 to see it. The restoration will bring a whole new experience in color and light with everything cleaned of 800 plus years of candle soot.
My biggest surprise was that there were chairs, not pews, and there were not that many of them, that, and I was amazed by how much the sun shining in through the stained glass windows colored everything. It was almost like walking through a rainbow.
Rainbow is the key to your experience. All the colors work together making our world beautiful.