Firefighters extinguished a fire that broke out Thursday in the spire of Rouen Cathedral, a historic Gothic church in northern France.
Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol confirmed the incident on social media, sharing an image showing smoke rising from the cathedral’s spire.
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Start of fire in progress on the spire of the cathedral @Rouen. Origin unknown at this stage. All public resources are mobilized. Thank you for facilitating their intervention. pic.twitter.com/Lnu1vMrw5p
— Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol (@NicolasMayerNMR) July 11, 2024
According to the newspaper Le Monde, 63 firefighters and 33 fire trucks participated in the operation. Authorities announced they had “controlled the fire” in just under two hours after an alert was issued at noon local time.
The cathedral was evacuated and a security perimeter was established, reported local media on July 11.
Citing information from the French Ministry of Culture, the newspaper Le Figaro said that the fire was caused by “mismanagement by the workers.”
The part of the spire where the fire broke out was about 120 meters above the ground and is currently undergoing renovation.
The incident was reminiscent of the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. That incident caused significant damage to the iconic structuredestroying its spire and much of its roof.
Rouen Cathedral, known for its tall spire and Gothic architecture, is of historical importance and artistic. The structure of historic Normandy was represented in a series of paintings by the French impressionist Claude Monet at the end of the 19th century.
The Rouen fire also comes against a backdrop of concerns about France’s Catholic heritage.
In 2021, Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Paris Religious Heritage Observatory, told CNA —EWTN News English agency— that every two weeks a religious building is lost in France due to various factors, such as demolition, reuse or destruction.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Anian Christoph Wimmer
Anian Christoph Wimmer, a multilingual Australian with Bavarian roots, is the editor-in-chief of CNA Deutsch. He held senior positions at Australia’s SBS and was editor-in-chief of the historic Münchner Kirchenzeitung. Graduated in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, Anian Christoph Wimmer was on the jury for the Catholic Media Award of the German Bishops’ Conference and was an honorary researcher in Communications at the University of Melbourne. He has served on the Board of Directors of Caritas in Munich.