Why this special photo taken outside Notre-Dame hours before the fire has gone viral
A plea to find two people photographed outside the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France, hours before the fire has gone viral on social media.
A picture shows what appears to be a father and a daughter playing outside the famous landmark less than half an hour before the fire that engulfed the 850-year-old church began.
American woman Brooke Windsor, who took the photo, shared it on Twitter in a bid to find the duo.
“Twitter if you have any magic, help him find this,” wrote Windsor, appealing for assistance from social media users in her search.
“I took this photo as we were leaving Notre-Dame about an hour before it caught on fire. I almost went up to the dad and asked if he wanted it. Now I wish I had.”
I took this photo as we were leaving #NotreDame about an hour before it caught on fire. I almost went up to the dad and asked if he wanted it. Now I wish I had. Twitter if you have any magic, help him find this 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/pEu33ubqCK
— Brooke Windsor (@brookeawindsor) April 16, 2019
The post has been shared by more than 178,000 people around the world at the time of writing.
Windsor said on Twitter that the picture was taken at 5.57 pm local time, approximately half an hour before the fire that destroyed the spire of the cultural icon began.
“If it were me, I’d want the memory,” Windsor told BBC. “Hoping he feels the same way.”
The Monday evening fire lasted several hours and destroyed the cathedral’s roof and spire, likely damaging a number of thorns, relics and gargoyles. However, Notre-Dame’s heritage director Laurent Prades said many other relics and structures have been saved.
Fires coming out of the #Notre_Dame cathedral. pic.twitter.com/zTxnf75nOS
— Firas El Echi (@FirasElEchi10) April 15, 2019
“All the 18th-century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels and the big organ are fine,” said Prades.
French president Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the church. “Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives,” Macron told reporters.
“Let’s be proud, because we built this cathedral more than 800 years ago, we’ve built it and, throughout the centuries, let it grow and improved it. So I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together.”