Notre-Dame de Paris

A spire collapses on television

At approximately 18:18 on Monday, 15 April 2019, a fire detection alarm sounded at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité.

The on-duty fire warden checked the attic location indicated and found nothing visible.

A second alarm at 18:43 prompted a closer inspection that found the attic ablaze. By the time the Paris fire brigade arrived around 18:50, the medieval oak-and-lead roof — known as la forêt, the forest, because it was constructed from 1 300 individual oak trees felled in the 12th and 13th centuries — was fully on fire.

At 19:50 the 96-metre flèche (spire) designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in his 1860s restoration of the cathedral broke at its base and fell through the burning roof into the cathedral's crossing.

The collapse was watched live on French television by an estimated 16 million viewers.

What burned, what was saved

The medieval oak roof structure burned to nothing within four hours.

The 250 tonnes of medieval lead roof-covering melted and ran down the gargoyles in molten rivers, eventually solidifying in pools on the cathedral floor and the surrounding pavement. The collapsed flèche took most of the medieval rib-vault stone ceiling of the nave's crossing down with it.

Beyond that, however, the damage was less than feared.

The 850-year-old structural stone walls held. The three rose windows — the most extensive surviving medieval stained glass in France — were undamaged. The Great Organ, with its 8 000 pipes, survived but was contaminated by lead dust. The Pietà sculpture by Nicolas Coustou, the relic of the Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis, the great relics — all were carried out of the burning cathedral over the next four hours by Paris firefighters and clergy through human chains.

The bell-ringer who saved the towers

The most dangerous moment of the fire came at around 22:30, when the burning roof timbers above the cathedral's north tower began to ignite the wooden bell-frame of the eight-tonne bell Marie.

If Marie had fallen, the cascade of falling masonry would have brought down the entire north tower. The collapse of the north tower would have brought down the south tower. The collapse of both towers would have destroyed the entire west front of the cathedral.

The Paris firefighters made a tactical decision to send a team — 20 men — up the burning south tower to position themselves between the burning roof and the bell-frames.

The team fought the fire from inside the tower at the bell-frame level for the next four hours, with the timber around them on fire.

They held. By 03:30 on 16 April the structure was secure.

Five years to reopen

President Emmanuel Macron promised, the morning after the fire, that Notre-Dame would reopen within five years.

The promise was widely considered unrealistic. International donations totalling €846 million arrived within months — including €100 million from the Pinault family, €200 million from the Arnault family, and €100 million from Total Energies — providing more funding than the restoration required.

The project commissioned hundreds of medieval-craft specialists. Traditional stonemasons trained in limestone vaulting. Carpenters working with hand tools on oak joinery. Bell-makers. Organ specialists. Stained-glass restorers.

The cathedral reopened on 7 December 2024 — five years and eight months after the fire — at a ceremony presided over by President Macron and attended by 1 500 dignitaries.

The full restoration will not be complete until 2030, but the building is structurally sound and functioning again as a cathedral.