The cathedral of Notre Dame almost burning to the ground and I was there when it all started... I can barely imagine Paris without this iconic building. The two towers are probably saved but the roof and spire are gone.

Yeah pretty shocked, the day Macron was going to make a speech. Not going into conspiracists theories yet because the timing is really odd. Or just bad karma sign that France lost freedom under E.U and rigged presidential elections reality show.
900 years of History burned, they saved the treasures and “ la tunique de saint juste “ but architecture and painting are definitely gone.

The two main bell towers and important treasures were saved, thank god. It wasnt completely burnt down...

I dont like politics actually but France losing freedom under EU is partially true, partially wrong. We’ve made a lot of things easier for ourselves with it, but of course at the cost of not being able to decide as we want in everything. Its about weighing the positives against the negatives and people tend to judge EU according to which part they think weighs heavier. For many immigration (especially from third world) and freedom of movement has been a combo giving rise to a lot of negative feelings. Too bad imo... I am for EU as a lot of things are made easier in my job and interests. But there we have it... its supposed to mainly be about europes common interests.

Notre Dame is of interest to a lot of people even outside France... and therefore EU could help fund a reconstruction as it is part of the entire worlds cultural and religious heritage.

Mate, who ever was insuring that building now is definitely screwed. Time isn't a coincidence, everything has it's time and place. Historic monument of this magnitude doesn't get burned down for being reckless. Don't they have a tough security around the perimeter constantly guarding the area?

My heart was broken when I saw the news...

I have been there multiple times and I love Paris. Despite its recent chaos, it's still one of the best city in the world.

I knew some damange to world heritage would come but I would never imagine it comes to this bad, by accident or not... :( It's really sad

I hate seeing heritage sites damaged. I'm sorry if I come off as clumsy, but I haven't heard of this building before. Just quickly learning about it now (via google), this would be distressing to see for a lot of people. I hope investigators can soon shun some light into this and find out more about the causes, and I dear hope to god that it wasn't arson..

@pelle turn off your tv a little. Everything in France is decided elsewhere by people we never voted for them. Our nation got Uberized in every era yet some people still defend EU. Would be interesting to hear the positives with these positive things that killed our industry with such an overpriced Euro.

Sorry to hear guys @tiki +@pelle, hope they can restore it to some of its former glory

@tiki_taka: ”Our nation got uberized in every era”... or maybe you should pick up a history book and drop the conspiracy theories. We colonized half of the world to even build an industry and feed it to start with. We were completely broke end 18th century and beginning of 19th.

The problem of France in my opinion and other countries like USA is that they are flawed representative democracies, often with old/outdated laws and constitutions... you’re not voting for your own opinion or for someone to speak on the behalf of your opinion. You more like give others the ”authorization” to present their own opinions and ideas. EU or no EU...

But this is not the direction I wished to go with my initial comment😴

The cathedral is incredible and this is a huge loss historically for sure. I have read that it will take about 40 to 50 years to rebuild it. One thing that rings true in almost every society that suffers structure loss is that they will rebuild. The pour of support has been very nice to see.

Yeah, was really sad when I heard about the news. Not only a French landmark like Pelle said it is but one of the whole world. I was kind of depressed at first but I'm glad to see all the support going into it like DarthFooty said. Hopefully, they'll manage to rebuild it.

@Pelle Colonisation never stopped, we are still sinking Africa like other big nations... don’t be too naive to think that such a rich continent in term of resources have the biggest rate of poverty.
GDF ( Engie ) Gas dont buy it, they take it free from Algeria.
Alstom and Areva takes Uranium free from Mali, wood, diamonds.... I can list you all the resources, telecommunications loans, ports taxations and any type of domination or abuse done there.

If France was benefiting from these horrendous money we would be the richest people, we aren’t. Everything is owned by little families that owns also the banks and TVs...

France was never broke, the free mason revolution of 1789 against the king was just a way for « bourgeoisie «  to take the power and unslave the people because the king maintained the equilibrium in social class struggle.

Every beautiful street, building was built during the kings era, now we are rulled by a bunch of gangsters and banksters who corrupt a greedy political class, that sells the country...

It’s incredible that each time when there is no terrorist attack, something extraordinary happens each Europeen election... go check the calendar of Europeen elections and last big horrendous events...
I know exactly which kind of people are rulling us behind the scenes since, the kings death. And what they did to Libya, Iraq, Syria, Mali just lately no need to go 100 years ago. And I tell people that French people do not benefit from these crimes nor money, those who commit crimes in the name of France aren’t even French and the mass don’t know even their existence nor the money stolen arround the world.

To be back to the subject, it’s not only a historical loss. It’s a symbol of what France has become under mondialisation. We lost Notre damme de Paris, we sold highways, airports, historical whines, historical hotels, SNCF, Alcatel.... and the list is long. And it’s written in EU recommendations for French to validate the annual budget.

On purpose or not, fact that we cannot defend our country properly is just a sign of end of a cycle.

The cathedral was the most visited in the world, and Paris, more than Effeil tower. 50.000 people per day. That’s also a big monetary loss for the city, if we think more pragmatic too.

And just saying, History books are financed by those who abuse the masses, don’t you think what they teach to their children is different than what they teach you ? You really think History given for masses is different to official versions like 09/11 or Weapons of massive destruction never found in Iraq ?

The only History books I open, are forbidden from sell or not getting visibility and help. Thanks to internet.

It will rise up again, i'm sure of it.

@tiki_taka: thats not how specifically France work... thats more like how the (rich) world works.

btw one shouldnt exclude any history book, even if it is inaccurate... because they also contain info about the view of the author(s) and show you the past from a certain point of view. All history books are interpretations/translations/opinions about what happened in the past.

Ok but depending which ones we are talking about, in School it’s propaganda History books. For the rest, there is the winners version of the story, and these winners are there since the kings death. Only De Gaulle resisted a little, but they fought him till they won in May 68.

A book who has the aim to reinform doesn’t get financed by editing companies nor TVs nor radio.
Before Internet it was pretty hard to get to behind the scenes and historical innofficial versions... now with internet nobody has an excuse to still trust official versions...

And of course, French people are completely innocent from crimes committed by their names... 99% of them doesn’t even at knowledge these crimes.

France was never broke, the free mason revolution of 1789 against the king was just a way for « bourgeoisie « to take the power and unslave the people because the king maintained the equilibrium in social class struggle.

Uh, the French Revolution happened because people were starving on the streets, while aristocrats and clergymen were living as lavishly as ever. The French economy was ravaged, and the people were inspired by the American Revolution to fight for their own rights.

Are you seriously praising an aristocracy? What age are we in?

well it's in assassins creed unity

Love how this was suppose to be a thread about Notre Dame burning and its slowly turning into debate about French history. I know I shouldn't say that but I actually love it when topic go in a completely opposite direction than it should.

@dynast yep that’s the official version, they also say Louis 16 was the worst king ever. I went in school you know, I also learned the official bs version...
If you are interested on the subject I can give you some names of books to revisit the official version.

Free mason used the mass to make their own revolution, the only people like Robespierre who was an idealist got manipulated and killed...
It will take a long time to explain the context and the alliances that ended to kill the king of France.

King Louis XVI was a good king, but VERY UNLUCKY to inherit a country that was still suffering from reckless rule of Louis XV and great Mississippi Bubble thanks again to his nepotistic decisions. Louis XVI tried to prevent inevitable from happening. He implemented necessary unpopular reforms to prevent economic catastrophe for France, yet citizens decided that it was unforgivable and chopping his head was a easier route. Napoleon famously said that if he had orders from Louis XVI to disperse the crowd all he needed were some good artillery cannons and revolution would have never happened, but Louis loved his people.

British hadn't let them do that sort of thing beforehand.

You mean same Brits who used to kill Natives by giving them small pox infected blankets? HA!

I personally think that American revolution was the greatest thing that happened to America. Yes, a lot went on and blood was spilled but what empire wasn't build on blood? Most civilized men that walked this earth has been the most cruelest and blood thirsty of any men. However, a lot of great advancements for humanity have come with it, so every path to progress and peace is laid with bones and washed with blood. I don't mean to sound cynical, but that is the cynical history we lived and world we are living in.