Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists — some crying, others offering prayers — watched in horror in central Paris on Monday night as firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the flames engulfing the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Flames ravaging the roof illuminated the outline of the monument’s two square towers in a fiery glow, and were reflected in the waters of the Seine. Along the Pont au Change bridge, which connects the Ile de la Cite with the Right Bank, the atmosphere was one of a vigil as hundreds of people watched in hushed silence as smoke rose into the night sky. Many were quietly singing an Ave Maria in Latin, including Stephane Seigneurie, 52, who said he has lived in Paris for the past 25 years. “I come often, and go in even where there’s no mass because it’s an extraordinary place, entwined in the history of France,” he said. “Politically, intellectually and spiritually, it’s a symbol of France.” When Seigneurie says that he’s very sad, an eleg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists — some crying, others offering prayers — watched in horror in central Paris on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publications"],"yoast_head":"\n