'Ouch' is the only word that seems to fit ...

Yeah.

One of the Cabinet Ministers has reported that the two bell towers are safe. The walls of the nave are what I'm worrying about; the buttresses that Notre-Dame is famous for were to prevent the walls from buckling outward under the weight of the roof. Minus the roof, they're being pushed inward by those same buttresses.

The stained glass is a total loss; either the glass itself melted, or the lead melted and the glass fell out of the frames.

Yeah...I just heard...I think it's still burning...

Yes, it's still burning, but they're managing to get it under control.

Twitter had a group of people watching it, and they started singing Catholic hymns. A few were on their knees.

All that I can think of at this moment is a horrid Doodles Weaver pun.

(phone bell) "Hello-what's that? The church burned down? Holy Smoke!"

Too soon?

No, there were people on Wonkette making the same gag.

so sad...

V.

A great tragedy, yes.

At the same time, there was a fire at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but fortunately it was in a guard office and was safely extinguished.

I just heard that some French billionaire has pledged 100,000,000 to begin repairs. A drop in the bucket, but it's a start.

Another's pledged 200 million euros. And yes, it's a good start.

Quel dommage.

I'm an atheist, and even I'm upset by the fire. I say Notre Dame is easily one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and really any damage done to it is an absolute tragedy, never mind something as extensive as this.

I'm sort of a Militant Agnostic, and I was very upset. Visiting Notre-Dame's on my bucket list.

In the cold light of morning, though, there are some hopeful signs - the stonework appears intact, and it's reported that all three rose windows survived. 300 million euros have been pledged by two French millionaires, and more coming in.

Agreed. I'd like to see Notre-Dame much more than, say, the Louvre museum. There is just so much great architecture there. I can only hope that the rest of it is salvageable enough that the rest of it can be rebuilt.

They're assessing the damage, but indications are that things weren't as dire as they appeared to be last night, thank goodness.

And me and my mom want to go to Paris later this year