Here are two photos that I took from the top of the Tour Saint-Jacques in central Paris. I climbed the 300 steps to the top of that old tower in late July 2013. It was hot and humid that day in Paris, and there was a definite summer haze in the air.
I've been busy exploring my photo archives, which contain something like 250,000 files, with an eye out for photos of Notre-Dame de Paris taken from different angles and in different light conditions. In the image above, you can see the Paris Panthéon off in the distance — it stands just about 800 meters (half a mile) south of the cathedral. I worked in its shadow for a few years back in the mid-1970s.
Above is a much closer view in which you can see the extent of the sheet metal roof that burned away, along with its ancient wooden support structure, in Monday night's fire. I can't believe Walt and I (with other tourists) were permitted to walk out onto the crest of that roof back in 1988. I wonder if they still allowed people to wander around out there in recent years. (Ignore all this. I corrected myself in a subsequent post...)
Latest word, from a French source, is that the fire was likely caused by a short-circuit in the elevator for the scaffolding.
ReplyDeleteThat's almost too banal to fathom.
DeleteKen, those are exactly the right words!
DeleteDo we know if there was some kind of spire in the earliest look of the cathedral? I know this was added, but I just never knew if it was replacing one, or just added to the look.
ReplyDeleteJudy, as far as I can tell, the spire was a Viollet-le-Duc creation in he 19th century. Even though the well-known architect must be commended for saving many important monuments, he is said to have created some uncalled for "improvements", especially at Notre-Dame de Paris. He saved the Cité de Carcassonne and must be commended for that. On commission by Napoléon III, he reconstructed and "embellished/improved" the ruined château de Pierrefonds near Paris.
DeleteOn a similar note, the German architect, Bodo Ebhard, reconstructed the château du Haut-Koenigsbourg in Alsace on commission by Wilhelm II, this time, at the end of the 19th century after the Franco-Prussian war.
These photos are good ones. I loved staying in a hotel near the Pantheon- Linda's room had quite a nice view of Sacre Coeur.
ReplyDelete