French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, after a colossal fire tore through the building, sending the spire crashing to the ground and wiping out centuries of heritage.
Macron expressed relief that “the worst had been avoided” in a blaze that had at one point threatened the entire edifice, and left France in shock over the damage to a building described as the soul of the nation.
French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, immediately pledged 100 million euros ($113 million) on Monday towards the rebuilding of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
In a statement sent to AFP, Pinault said the money towards “the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre-Dame” would be paid by the Pinault family’s investment firm Artemis.
The inferno destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the sky.
Around 500 firefighters battled into the night to control the flames, declaring in the early hours of Tuesday that the fire was under control, around nine hours after it broke out.
Source : Various