Stepping up for Notre Dame

More than $700 million has been pledged to rebuild iconic cathedral ravaged by fire in Paris

Donations from French companies and private families to help reconstruct the Notre Dame Cathedral poured in on Tuesday, a day after the 850-year-old Paris landmark was ravaged by fire.

France’s three wealthiest families — the billionaire owners of luxury goods giants LVMH Group, Kering and L’Oreal — pledged a combined $565 million (500 million euros) and helped push the rebuilding drive to $700 million as of Tuesday.

Messages of condolence came in from around the world on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed sincere sympathy to the French people over the fire in a message to his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

Notre Dame Cathedral is an iconic symbol of French civilization, and it is also an outstanding treasure of human civilization, Xi said. Chinese people feel deeply sad about the fire, just as the French people feel, he added.

Xi said he believes that with the efforts of the French people and support from the international community, Notre Dame Cathedral will be repaired well and regain its glory.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was praying for those affected, the Vatican said, adding: “Notre Dame will always remain — and we have seen this in these hours — a place where believers and non-believers can come together in the most dramatic moments of French history.”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth expressed deep sadness while her son and heir Prince Charles said he was “utterly heartbroken”. Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Germany’s help to rebuild a part of “our common European heritage”.

Other French companies donated, including oil and gas company Total, which promised $113 million, while tech and consulting firm Capgemini said it will give $1.1 million.

French bank Crédit Agricole pledged a donation, as did Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc, who said Apple is “heartbroken” over the Notre Dame fire and would be donating to efforts to rebuild what he described as a “symbol of hope”.

The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, will donate $100,000 toward the renovation, the university announced Tuesday.

Renovation experts could not estimate the total time and cost of the restoration of the Roman Catholic cathedral devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week.

Peter Fuessenich, who oversees reconstruction for the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, said it could take decades to repair Notre Dame. Cologne Cathedral was heavily damaged during World War II and work to repair it is still ongoing more than 70 years later.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure.

The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain “extremely fragile”, notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) heritage site, and UNESCO has offered its expertise.

Offers of assistance to help restore the 12th century tourist attraction to its former glory flowed in from around the world. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects. LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy, said it would make its creative and financial teams available to help with rebuilding and soliciting donations.

The cathedral’s roof was made of 800-year-old wooden beams, and the roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because “we don’t, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century”, said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice-president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding that the roof restoration work would have to use new technology.

Feydeau said the church organ “has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water”, he told AP.

The fire raged for more than 12 hours and destroyed the church’s spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers.

At one point, firefighters, police and municipal workers formed a human chain to remove treasures, including a centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France.

But the cathedral’s high altar was damaged by falling debris when the spire collapsed, one official said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.