[Magdalen] Fire at Notre Dame de Paris.

[cantor03 at aol.com]

I don't think it's well known that the great roofs one sees on these churchesare a separate entity from the inner stone vaults one sees standing in theinterior of these buildings.  The outer roof is traditionally supported by timber,and hence are very flammable. 

When you get into climates where there is no heavy snow possible (like Spain),there is no great outer roof, and the stone vaults act as the only roof for the building.It looks just a bit odd if one is used to those great roofs of the more northerlychurches.

David Strang.
In a message dated 4/15/2019 3:17:21 PM Eastern Standard Time, michaudme at gmail.com writes:

I think most people don't realize that the interior of Notre Dame wasredone in the nineteenth century. Before that it was basically a ruin.
Also, IIRC, it belongs to the French government which grants the Church theright to use it for services.-M