Photo essay

A blackened shell: Aftermath of fire shows scale of work ahead for Notre Dame

Daylight reveals extent of damage at iconic Paris cathedral as firefighters put out last smoldering remains of the massive blaze

By AP 16 April 2019, 12:17 pm
Smoke rises in front of the altar cross at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019, after a fire engulfed the building. (PHILIPPE WOJAZER / POOL / AFP)

Firefighters declared success Tuesday morning in their more than 12-hour battle to extinguish the flames that engulfed Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral.

What remained was a blackened shell of the monument immortalized in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” a building that had survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history.

The two iconic 69-meter bell towers remained intact and swarmed with building specialists and architects at dawn, looking tiny from the ground as they conducted analysis. The cathedral’s spire and roof were gone, however.

Below is a look at the aftermath of the devastating blaze.

Smoke rises in front of the altar cross at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019, after a fire engulfed the building. (PHILIPPE WOJAZER / POOL / AFP)
A firefighter is seen dousing the facade of the Notre Dame Cathedral as flames engulf the roof of the cathedral on April 15, 2019, in the French capital Paris. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
Firefighters secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 16, 2019, in the aftermath of a fire that caused its spire to crash to the ground. (Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

People hug while looking at Notre Dame de Paris on April 16, 2019 in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral. (Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
A firefighter stands outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 16, 2019, in the aftermath of a fire that caused its spire to crash to the ground. (Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP)
Firefighters secure Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 16, 2019, in the aftermath of a fire that caused its spire to crash to the ground. (Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

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