Nobody could believe it. The famous cathedral that symbolized Paris for almost 10 centuries was burning. The roof caught fire as thousands of Parisians looked on incredulously, after what looked like an accident took place during roof work. All the fire departments within and outside Paris intervened immediately, but it was already too late. When I was a very young boy scout, I was taught that a fire could be extinguished with a glass of water in the first 15 seconds and with a bucket of water in the first minute. After the third minute, all one can do is to call the firefighters. This cathedral is located in the Isle of the City, closely surrounded by old buildings and houses, in one of the most-visited locations of Paris. The roof is very high, at 60 meters, the beautiful spire, constructed by Viollet-Le-Duc in the 19th century, culminates at almost 100 meters. There was no possibility to use Canadair planes or helicopters to pour water over the fire.
Such an immense shock, six tons of water descending from a high altitude, could destroy the structure of the building, without counting the risk of damage over the nearby buildings. The firefighters battled the fire, with pressured water hoses in extremely dangerous conditions, for almost nine hours, while other teams were rescuing invaluable artistic treasures and archives within the cathedral.
Parisian people, dumbstruck, watched the roof burning, flames devouring the beautiful spire after a while. Most of the crowd prayed, silently, in tears. Some chanted beautiful psalms, to the glory of the Virgin Mary. Believers and non-believers alike, everyone mourned nobly, desperately, in silence.
President Emmanuel Macron immediately arrived to see the magnitude of the catastrophe himself, and to boost the morale of the fire department. Millions of people around the world watched the fire; while an ocean of solidarity messages were sent to the French.
Once the fire was put down, the assessment of the damage was rapidly made. Losses were invaluable; it appeared that the wooden framework was mostly original, dating back to the 12th century. At the time, it was constructed with the wood of very old and mature trees, 300 to 400 years old. Such trees do not exist anymore in French forests, showing the damage we have done to nature. Nevertheless, how to restore an immense artistic and architectural treasure was the main question asked. This was immediately followed by another set of questions, how long will it take, and more importantly how much will it cost?
A campaign of donations started immediately, French people and business circles have been making extremely generous donations, which totaled almost a billion euros in a few days. President Macron stated that the reconstruction would take five years, which remains a very optimistic forecast in view of the immense and extremely delicate work to be done.
A big debate erupted after the donations, LVMH, the immense corporation owning L'Oréal, started with an incredible donation of 200 million euros ($224 million). Closely followed by the Pinault family, owners of the Artemis investments corporation, committed to disburse 100 million euros. Other big businesses have offered donations of more than a million euros, which has created a wrong debate. The question asked by the opposition (left or right) is the same: If such corporations own that much fortune, why not tax them better. The following issue was to know whether it would be wise to spend so much money on an old cathedral, whereas it could be used for the poorest.
Obviously, it is perfectly irrelevant to compare the restoration of the Notre Dame with the fight against poverty in France. Notre Dame remains a symbol in the hearts of a whole nation. As a matter of comparison, how would the Turkish public opinion feel if, God forbid, something similar was to happen to the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul? Cathedrals, very much like monumental mosques and synagogues or other temples, are like large vessels transporting the common memorial heritage of a whole society through time, through generations. It is very unwise to criticize their restoration.
On the other hand, and nobody talks about it, but our entire liberal international system favors tax evasion. Let us ask a very basic question: Why are there tax havens all around the world? Victor Hugo, the famous writer of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" spent years in exile in Guernsey Island, a British isle a few miles away from the French Normandy coast. This is a tax haven, meaning a region that charges foreign individuals and businesses little or no tax. Why? Because the British system wanted it so, and businesses and people around the world are very happy to have such places. Therefore, let us have a modicum of logic and stop comparing the restoration of a cathedral with all the injustices existing in our societies.