People have cared deeply about this cathedral for 800 years.
You describe yourself as a world traveler from Northern Virginia in your profile, but I suspect you haven’t travelled outside your own country yet.
If you had, you would have noticed how important this cathedral has been (800 years), not only to the French, but to everyone else. Not only to Catholics, but to everyone, including me — an atheist.
The rose stained glass windows of the cathedral are the most famous in the world. The rose windows, like every element in a gothic cathedral, has multiple meanings. It is not simply decorative.
On my first trip to Paris, the cathedral was the first thing I wanted to see. I walked along the Seine to approach it slowly. There were five of us, including two children, and we spent the entire day inside. The kids knew who Joan of Arc was before we got to that statue. We lit candles in the Notre Dame Cathedral for every person in our lives who had died.
There were people from all over the world there. Dozens of languages spoken. A respectful hush was everywhere despite the presence of so many people. Gargoyles with their own stories. The Joan of Arc likeness. Exquisite gothic architecture that took hundreds of years to complete!
The fire is heartbreaking to most people in the world. Devastating really, but not perhaps to you or the people surrounding you. I expect that that is because you’ve never seen it, or even heard about it until the fire.
Your flippant question says a lot about you. So what have you got in Northern Virginia that is 800 years old and draws millions of people, including atheists, from around the world to its doors?
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