So once the fire is out, what is the first thing to do? Everything inside that building will either destroyed beyond salvation or will need to be removed for proper cleaning and restoration. I imagine they'd want to get some sort of temporary thing in place to mitigate water damage? Would there even be anything worth saving at that point? Assuming it doesn't melt, the stained glass should be okay for the most part.
Thinking about how long it's going to take to restore that place makes my head spin. Every square inch of that place is going to need to be cleaned by hand.
Honestly, dude, I don't think there's going to be anything left to clean. Sadly, my hunch is that there's going to be a gutted stone shell and not much else. The stained glass very likely blew out early on. Or fractured when cold water hit it.
It's basically a huge pizza oven at that point; that stone doesn't give an inch on heat dissipation, so it's all reflected back into the structure. That's why it was so hard to fight; you couldn't just waltz in the front door with hoses blowing. Plus it's on an island (technically) which makes it beautiful but not exactly accessible to equipment.
Does anyone here know exactly what kind of stuff was contained in that cathedral? As old and important as it is I wonder what all was in it. Like EB said, hopefully most of the important stuff was moved, but still... I wonder what kind of priceless historic artifacts are hidden in there.
Well, with the proviso that El Barto is probably right, that much of the REAL stuff was moved out or protected, you have the stained glass itself, you have what the Catholic Church considers fragments of the cross used in the original crucifixion, one of the nails believed to be used for that crucifixion, as well as fragments of the cross of thorns. Most churches of that age and stature have significant crypts (the one at Notre Dame allegedly dates from B.C.), art collections (though much of the art from Notre Dame is actually in the Louvre, because of space) and document libraries (though I understand that much of those texts are also off site).
I was there in 2001, literally days after finding out I was going to be a dad, and I spent a good hour in the church reflecting and I lit a candle. Forget about "religion", but just as a meeting place, the energy in that place was palpable. An experience I won't soon forget, and as beautiful as that picture is that Chino posted, it still doesn't do it justice. Those pieces of stained glass are radiant.