[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I have a hunch (no pun intended) that Macron will turn this into a political football.

TOO BAD TORPLEXED ISN'T AROUND TO DO A POLITICAL CARTOON BASED ON THAT STATEMENT

Originally Posted by WSJ

<The wooden frame of the cathedral’s roof was constructed in 1220. Each beam was hewn from a different oak tree. The cathedral roof is made of more than 1,300 lead tiles, each about a quarter-inch thick. as the flames engulfed the cathedral’s roof, they consumed sections of its interior frame. Nicknamed “the forest” for the number of oak trees used to construct its wooden beams, the frame was among the oldest in church architecture.
“Essentially it’s kindling,” said Anne E. Lester, associate professor of medieval history at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s made from timber that’s now hundreds of years old. It would have been dried out.”

THE SPIRE SEEN TOPPLING WAS ACTUALLY A 19 CENTURY ADDITION AND NOT PART OF THE MEDIEVAL GOTHIC STRUCTURE PER SE; ONE OF THE ISSUES WAS THE BRITTLE LIMSTONE ROCK NOT REACTING WELL TO THE FIREWATER FROM FIRE HOSES. FORTUNATELY THE STATUES AROUND THE COLLAPSED SPIRE HAD ALL BEEN REMOVEED FROM THE ROOF FOR RENOVATION. UNFORTUNATELY, NUTHIN' NEW HERE: THE EQUALLY SPECTACULAR CATHEDRAL AT CHARTRES SUFFERED A SIMILAR ROOF FIRE AND WAS REPLACED WITH STEEL ROOF TRUSSES IN THE 1800'S....

Originally Posted by WSJ

In 1836, the old lead-covered roof, with its complex structure of timber supports (known as 'the forest') was destroyed by fire. It was replaced with a copper-clad roof supported by a network of cast iron ribs, known as the Charpente de fer. At the time, the framework over the crossing had the largest span of any iron framed construction in Europe.

<CLIK2ENLARGE AS FOR PRESIDENT MACRON: "WE WILL REBUILD"....WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA MON PRESIDENTE