10 Facts You Need To Know To Appreciate France’s Fire Ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral

As the news of the inferno ravaging one of the edifices Paris, France Capital, which serves as a testimony to France Architectural dexterity, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, there is the need to understand the reason why this building is historic and important to the French people and their historical journey.

The historical cathedral, which, is one of the most widely recognized symbols of the city of Paris and the French nation, was reported to be ravaged by fire on Monday.

The unfortunate incident has instigated responses from world leaders and from people who know the significance of the edifice.

See The reactions of some world leaders.

Here are some fact you might Need to Know about Notre Dome

1. The Cathedral Notre Dome literately means “Our Lady of Paris”. This historical edifice draws about 13 million visitors a year.
2. The construction of the edifice started in 1160 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely complete by 1260 during the reign of King Louis VII.
3. The cathedral was built on a small island called the Île de la Cité, in the middle of the Seine
4. The Building which has witness the enthronement of Henry VI of England as the king of France in 1431. It also witness the Coronation of Napoleon I as Emperor of France.
5. The book helped spur significant overhauls from 1844 to 1864, when the architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc redid the spire and flying buttresses.It is believed that Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. was the major reason why renovations were carried out on the edifice during that period.
6. The French revolution in the 18 century caused the destruction of the edifice.
7. Fire struck the building in the 13th century, prompting new work on the cathedral between 1230 and 1240, according to the book The Engineering of Medieval Cathedrals.
8. According to Archaeological findings, Notre-Dame de Paris was build on what was once a Gallo-Roman city known as Lutetia.
9. The cathedral contains one of the oldest surviving wood-timber frames in Paris, involving around 52 acres of trees that were cut down in the 12th century.
10. With 8000 Pipes, the organ in the Cathedral Notre Dome boasted of one of the biggest organs in France.

The French President has vowed that Cathedral Notre Dome will be restored to its former glory.