Europe

How Centuries of Priceless Treasures Were Saved at Notre Dame

Published

6 years ago

April 20, 2019

Eric

By Eliza Mackintosh, CNN

Paris (CNN) – Jean-Marc Fournier didn’t have much time. As flames ripped through Notre Dame cathedral’s medieval roof on Monday evening, the Paris fire brigade chaplain had a single mission — to rescue two of its most sacred relics.

The problem was that the Crown of Thorns, revered as having been worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion, and the tabernacle, containing the Eucharist or holy sacrament, were locked inside a safe in the church’s treasury that no one knew how to open.

“We couldn’t get the codes … we couldn’t get hold of the people who had them,” Fournier said Wednesday.

Finally, as the flames high above crept closer to Notre Dame’s famous spire, a church officer appeared with the crypt key, and the chaplain and firefighters rushed in.

Inside, red-hot embers and debris drifted down from the vast rib-vaulted ceiling. Fournier watched as a team of firefighters broke open the safe and extracted the crown. Made of rushes bound by gold threads, it has been encased in a crystal tube since 1896.

The chaplain joined a human chain of firefighters, emergency workers and antiquities experts to pass the crown and other irreplaceable treasures out of the burning church and into safety. Their efforts in those first few hours would save hundreds of years of art, history and heritage that Fournier said “belongs to humanity and the world at large.”

Toiling through the night

As luck would have it, several people with deep knowledge of the contents of the church were already on site when Monday’s fire broke out. Notre Dame was undergoing a planned restoration, and Didier Durand was working on repairing the cathedral’s flying buttresses when the first alarm went off.

As the flames ate their way through the cathedral’s roof, Durand toiled through the night with other specialists to evacuate artifacts and statues.

“There were 20 of us who packed all these artworks, protecting them, making an inventory,” Durand, the chairman of stoneworks company Pierrenoel, told CNN.

Marie-Helene Didier, a conservator who has been overseeing the restoration, was also there, noting down a precise account of all the works before packing them into trucks to “preserve them as much as possible,” Durand said.

Among the items salvaged was the tunic of St. Louis, believed to have been worn by King Louis IX in the 13th century, and ornaments from the altar used for the coronation of Napoleon in 1804, among many other invaluable artworks and relics.

The trio of rose windows that date back to the 13th century and the original Great Organ — one of the world’s most famous musical instruments — also survived.

The significance of the religious objects recovered from the fire cannot be overstated, said Celine Coulangeon, a professor of art history at Catholic University of Paris.

“The relics are some of the only ones remaining from the passion of Christ,” Coulangeon told CNN, adding that they were purchased by Louis IX for a cost equivalent to half of the state’s annual budget.

“During his reign, there was a cult of the relic,” and the artifacts were seen as a way to “get closer to God,” she said.

In the immediate aftermath of the blaze, some of the most precious works of art and treasures from the Notre Dame were held under security at Paris city hall, according to the Élysée Palace. By Thursday, the ministry of culture had repatriated that artwork to the Louvre Museum, which will receive more pieces and paintings in the coming days.

Culture minister Franck Riester said that the “risk of collapse” had prevented the removal of some of the cathedral’s paintings, but that if the all-clear was given, they would be taken out on Friday.

While the evacuation of Notre Dame was a great success, the full extent of the water and smoke damage to the church — and to what was inside — may not be known for some time.

The paintings still inside “contain dust, they have had smoke, they are there in the humidity. So we have to remove them quickly,” Riester said Thursday.

CNN has contacted the Louvre about the condition of the art it received, but the museum has refused to comment.

‘An emblem of France’

On Tuesday, Didier was working alongside other restorers when Notre Dame’s precious rooster, which contains three holy relics and was perched atop the cathedral’s 19th-century spire before it collapsed, was discovered intact among the debris.

“We’re going to operate on the rooster to check that the relics are still inside, and we will restore it, because it is an emblem … an emblem of France,” Didier said.

Sixteen copper statues representing the twelve apostles and four evangelists were spared from the blaze entirely. The monuments had descended like eerie angels by crane from the cathedral last week, so that refurbishments could be made to the since-destroyed spire.

Socra, one of the companies involved in the refurbishment, confirmed to CNN that the statues were in one of their workshops at the time of the blaze.

Reflecting on the effort to restore Notre Dame and its statues, a Socra technician told the New Yorker: “In wanting to give her a second youth, we have perhaps destroyed her.”

Many months and possibly hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of refurbishments now await.

In the wake of the disaster, President Emmanuel Macron suggested that a unique opportunity had presented itself: to train a whole new generation of French craftspeople and hold a competition that might inspire a contemporary take on one of Paris’ most beloved and oldest landmarks.

“Throughout our history, we have built towns, ports, churches, many have been burnt or were destroyed by wars, revolutions, mankind’s mistakes, each time we have rebuilt them,” Macron said in an address to the nation on Tuesday.

“The fire of Notre Dame reminds us that our story never ends. And that we will always have challenges to overcome. What we believe to be indestructible can also be touched.”

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Europe

British PM Faces Defeat in Historic Brexit Deal Vote

Published

6 years ago

January 15, 2019

Eric

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces crushing defeat in a historic vote in parliament on Tuesday over the Brexit deal she has struck with the European Union, leaving the world’s fifth biggest economy in limbo.

With just over two months to go until the scheduled Brexit date of March 29, Britain is still bitterly divided over what should happen next and the only suspense over the vote is the scale of May’s defeat.

The British leader’s last-minute appeals to MPs appear to have fallen on deaf ears and how much she loses by could determine whether she tries again, loses office, delays Brexit — or if Britain even leaves the EU at all.

“When the history books are written, people will look at the decision of this house… and ask: did we deliver on the country’s vote to leave the European Union,” May asked MPs on the eve of the vote, expected after 1900 GMT.

– ‘No Deal? No problem!’ –
Opposition to the deal forced May to postpone the vote in December in the hope of winning concessions from Brussels.

EU leaders have offered only a series of clarifications but German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Strasbourg on Tuesday raised the possibility of further talks while ruling out a full re-negotiation of the text.

“Everything has been done in recent weeks and months to signal our interest in a positive decision,” Maas said.

“However, I am sceptical that the agreement can be fundamentally reopened once again,” he said.

The vote is the climax of over two years of intense national debate after the shock Brexit referendum of 2016 — a result mostly pro-Remain MPs have struggled with.

Hardline Brexiteers and Remainers oppose the agreement for different reasons and many fear it could lock Britain into an unfavourable trading relationship with the EU.

Pro- and anti-Brexit campaigners rallied outside parliament ahead of the vote. One placard read “EU Membership is the Best Deal”, another said: “No Deal? No Problem!”

Uncertainty over Brexit has hit the British economy hard.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders lobby group warned MPs that Britain crashing out of the EU would be “catastrophic”.

Financial markets will also be watching the result closely, with several currency trading companies roping in extra staff for the vote and at least one putting a cap on trades to avoid excessive currency movements.

“Today’s vote is a foregone conclusion so sterling is unlikely to move significantly,” said Rebecca O’Keeffe, an analyst with online trader Interactive Investor.

“The fireworks will happen after today — when it is clear what happens next,” she said, predicting that a decision not to leave the EU would send sterling shooting up while a no-deal Brexit would send it down to record lows.

– Frustration –
Rather than heal the divisions exposed by the Brexit referendum, the vote has reignited them.

Pro-European MPs campaigning to force a second vote say they have faced death threats.

Brexit supporters have also voiced growing frustration with what they see as parliamentary blockage of their democratic vote.

Criticism of the deal is focused on an arrangement to keep open the border with Ireland by aligning Britain with some EU trade rules, if and until London and Brussels sign a new economic partnership which could take several years.

Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Northern Irish party on whom May relies for her Commons majority, told the BBC his party would not be forced into backing the deal by fears over the border.

“We fought (against) a terrorist campaign (in order) to stay part of the United Kingdom,” he said, evoking Northern Ireland’s past conflict.

“We are not going to allow bureaucrats in Brussels to separate us from the rest of the United Kingdom.”

His boss Arlene Foster stressed “we cannot accept the backstop…it does violence to the union.”

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said May must call an election if she loses on Tuesday and has threatened to hold a confidence vote in her government if she does not.

– Risk of no deal –
In the event of a defeat, the government must set out what happens next by Monday at the latest.

Speculation is growing on both sides of the Channel that whatever the outcome May could ask to delay Brexit.

But a diplomatic source told AFP any extension would not be possible beyond June 30, when the new European Parliament will be formed.

The withdrawal agreement includes plans for a post-Brexit transition period to provide continuity until a new relationship is drawn up, in return for continued budget contributions from London.

Without it, and if there is no delay, Britain will sever 46 years of ties with its nearest neighbours with no agreement to ease the blow.

(AFP)

Europe

Germany Wins Right to Host Euro 2024

Published

6 years ago

September 27, 2018

Eric

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin announced the winner following a campaign that saw politics and concerns over human rights in Turkey play a central role.

“I’d like to thank the UEFA Executive for their incredible confidence and I feel the responsibility — we will do our utmost to live up to expectations,” said German Football Association (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel after the announcement.

“We want to put on a huge football festival and show the world how hospitable we are,” said ex-Germany captain Philipp Lahm, who will head the organising committee.

UEFA considered that the German bid already had everything in place to host a successful event — from stadiums to infrastructure and hotels.

European football’s governing body has also said it wants to make as much money as possible from the 2024 tournament and Germany was considered the better financial bet.

The win also offers a boost to German football after a disastrous 2018 World Cup, when the country failed to qualify for the last 16 — after winning the tournament in 2014.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas said the 2024 tournament “will be an opportunity to show what we stand for in Germany: openness to the world and tolerance, freedom and respect.

“Together, we have to make the European Championship a tournament for all Europeans,” he added in a statement.

Turkey meanwhile had been desperate to host its first ever major sporting event but its bid was weakened by concerns over its faltering economy, lacking transport network and, perhaps most importantly, human rights.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan loomed large over the campaign and Thursday’s defeat may be seen in part as a personal rebuke.

His government’s unprecedented crackdown, including thousands of arrests, following a failed 2016 coup has raised worldwide concern.

That unease was shared by UEFA, which noted in its evaluation report that the Turkish bid’s “lack of action plan in the area of human rights is a matter of concern.”

(AFP)

Europe

London Explosion: SPACNATION Foundation Hosts Summit on Youth Violence Solution

Published

7 years ago

May 3, 2018

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

Following Thursday’s explosion which injured a good number of persons as a result of youth carnival turned violent, the Spacnation Foundation has decided to host a Summit on Youth Violence Solution on May 17, 2018 at the City Hall, London, to discuss actions needed to be taken to curb violence.

The violence, which took place in Stamford Hill, North-East London, reportedly occurred as a result of a Jewish Holiday celebration popularly known as Lag Ba’omer, to mark the eve of the Jewish holiday going awry.

Reports had it that the Jewish youths were seen throwing cell phones into bonfires as a means of dissociating themselves from the evils of cell phones when the explosion occurred.

A statement released by SPACNATION, and made available to The Boss suggests that community and political leaders need to ‘bring ideas together to begin to cultivate a change of mindset, attitudes and general lethargic response as seen over the years by the government’.

“In response to the recent spate of violent crime amongst young people on London’s streets, SPACNATION Foundation is hosting an emergency summit in City Hall to discuss what action needs to be taken to curb the violence. We believe political and community leaders need to bring ideas together to begin cultivating a change of mindset, attitudes and the general lethargic response as seen over the years by the government,” the statement stated.

SPACNATION, as a Foundation, is set up to address key issues and matters pertaining to the serious issue of violence by engaging young people to adopt an alternative lifestyle.

The statement signed by the Foundation’s Public Relations Officer, Lymell Cross, said that the summit will certainly be the answer to the national violence across London.

To attend the summit are former gang members, various leading community organisations, local authority officials, MP’s, national and local press, campaigners and many more.

It also noted that there will be a panel of key influencers as well as an opportunity for participants to make their contributions.

It is believed that at the end of the summit, a solution will be reached and a clear plan of action will be presented to the Home Office.