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Monday | 13 January 2025 | Epaper

Notre-Dame in flames

Published : Sunday, 28 April, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 445
Mahbubar Rahman
Mahbubar Rahman

Mahbubar Rahman

Having stolen fire from safe vault of heaven, when mythological gods were all asleep, Prometheus gifted it to mankind and thus became the earlier teacher and benefactor of human race. With fire, amongst all other endowed gifts of nature, in their possession, humans prospered over the ages, by transcending all barriers and reached the height of civilization that is visible these days.

Human derived immense benefits from the use of fire but nevertheless equally experienced and underwent untold sufferings from the hazards of fire over the different phases of civilization when fire turned rebellious and went beyond human's control. Presumably, to contain the rage & fury of fire, Zoroastrians and some other religious sects and creeds worship fire as part of their religious rites. Believing that fire is one of the three basic elements that shaped the universe and the world, a large segment of people including Hindus across the world return their dead bodies into the pyre ablaze in fire.

Fire breaks out and guts thousands of establishment and structures across the world every day and every hour leaving humans in deep agony and distress, at time. Wild fire destroys forests in miles after miles every year in different locations across the world. Human civilization has witnessed some great fire over the ages, some of which are as follows, leaving their orgy of horror cemented in humans' memory.

To begin with, Boston fire in 1872 charred 776 building and 20 people spreading over 65 acres of downtown Boston. London fire in 1212 known also as The Great Fire of Southward was much deadly, leaving as many as 3000 people dead. Further, London fire in 1666 is best remembered, mainly because of the impact had on the citizen not only of London, but of all England. Flames gutted the heart of the capital of the Roman Empire in 64 A.D. In Chicago fire in 1871, 17000 structures were burned and 90,000 people homeless with 3000 death causality.

Sun Francisco fire in 1906 burned 25,000 buildings and left some 300 people dead. In Peshtigo, Wisconsin, in 1871, most of its population of 17,000 died in the flames, with many of their bodies never recovered. Texas City fire in 1947 levelled over 1000 buildings and left nearly 600 people dead. In 1923, Tokyo was both levelled by a massive earthquake and ravaged by a fire, resulting in a staggering death toll as high as 1, 42,000.

In, Bangladesh, we have witnessed a few big fires in Dhaka and elsewhere in last couple of months that killed people in dozens and destroyed property in enormous proportion, memory of which is still haunting our collective psyche.
The world, particularly Europe, is struck with shock &awe having witnessed great fire burning partly 850 years old Notre-Dame cathedral on the fateful night of April 15, 2019. Fire that goes wild and uncontrolled does not even spare the houses of God from its rage and fury. Mosques, Churches, Cathedrals, Synagogues, Temples, and Pagodas are regarded as the houses of God by devotees practicing religions of different faiths. Presumably, fire keeps its eyes shut and plays its irreversible orgy of burning such sacred houses of worships where people bow; kneel, prostrate or stand with hands folded to their God of faith.

Larger than the place of worships, Notre Dame Cathedral stands with its head held high in the city centre of Paris. Regarded as the queen of Europe, Paris is also known as the city of artists and sculptors. In Paris, one can hardly see any building or structure without featuring artworks of great aesthetic values. Notre-Dame cathedral is a rarely built structure in the world that features great works of artistry enriched with art, paintings and sculptures both in its interior and exterior facade. As such when such great structure of artistry burns, naturally it burns the feelings and sentiments of those who care, love and adulate the great works of aesthetic values.

I had had a few occasions to visit Paris to see the beauty and splendour of, among many other spectacular sites like Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Sacre-Coer, Le Concorde, Elyse Palace, Arc-de-Triumph, standing gracefully at the junctions of Champs Eelessey; the Notre-Dame cathedral with all its charm & grandeur which have made it so great and immortalized in the contemporary world. I was struck in awe by seeing its Stained Glass Windows, Statues of the Spire, Crown of Thorns and three mammoth Bell Towers each weighing more than 20 tons.

With its beauty and grandeur that is still riveted in my eyes, it is much shocking to me as well, among millions others, to see the Cathedral in flames consuming it's all beauty and artistry that was earned over last 850 years of its existence in the city centre of Paris. 450 firemen with large numbers of fire engine fought long 9 hours battle to bring the fire under control and totally extinguished. With their heroic job, firemen braved to save many artefacts and treasures like Stained Glass Windows, Crown of Thorn, Bell Towers, and lot more of their likes bearing significant aesthetic and historical values.

Despite their long battle with flames, firemen unfortunately could not save many pieces of paintings and treasures of invaluable artistry that the millions of visitors every year will miss henceforth. With great shock &awe, French president Emanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the damaged parts of the cathedral in next five years before the Olympics.

Many French billionaires and Hollywood actors & producers like Francois-Henry Penult plans to pledge 100 million Euro followed by LVMH owner and billionaire Bernard Arnault and his family pledged another 200 million Euro; and Video game company UbiSOFT pledged half a million Euro to Notre-Dames for reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, which is a symbol of France, of its heritage and of French unity.

With above noted pledges, more than 1 billion Euros have been already raised so far for rebuilding the cathedral. It is needless to emphasize that Notre-Dame cathedral is the symbol of France's heritage and unity. It inspired and stirred the conscious and creative faculty of mind of many great artists, poets, and writers, film makers of France and elsewhere in the world. It is not out of place, at this point, to fall back upon eminent French writer Victor Hugo's classic The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Victor Hugo began writing Notre-Dame de Paris in 1829, largely to make his contemporaries more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture, which was neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings or defaced by replacement of parts of buildings in a newer style. For instance, the medieval stained glass panels of Notre-Dame de Paris had been replaced by white glass to let more light into the church.

In his classic, Victor Hugo marvellously featured two major characters i.e a 16 year old Gypsy street dancer who is naturally compassionate and kind: and a deformed 20 year old hunchback Quasimodo--the bell ringer of Notre-Dame.  
Hugo wrote "For though he was gentle and kind, it was Quasimodo's crime to have been born hideously deformed. But one day his heart would prove to be a thing of real beauty. She was Esmeraldas, the victim of a coward jealous rage. She is unjustifiably convicted of a crime she did not commit.

Her sentence is death by hanging. Only one man can save her i.e. Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame." The novel's original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris, indicates that the cathedral itself is the most significant aspect of the novel, both the main setting and the focus of the story's themes. The building had fallen into disrepair at the time of writing, which was something Hugo felt strongly about.

Notre-Dame stood with its head held high for last 850 years and will continue to stand tall in the city centre of Paris with all its beauty and grandeur no matter how shockingly some part of it has been burnt in flames on the fateful night of April 15, 2019 to the great shock &awe of Parisians and others having great love for art and culture.

The writer is a former civil servant








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