page_title: Spire of Notre-Dame de Paris
section_title: Destruction by fire
hierarchical_section_title: Spire of Notre-Dame de Paris / History / The second spire / Destruction by fire
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Photographie prise depuis le Pont Saint Louis de la flèche de la cathédrale Notre Dame lors de l'incendie du 15 avril 2019 English: Photography of Notre Dame's spire taken from the Saint Louis bridge during the 15th April 2019 fire.
context_page_description: The spire of Notre-Dame de Paris was located above the cross-section of the cathedral's transept. Notre-Dame de Paris has had two timber spires, known as flèches. The first was built between 1220 and 1230. It eventually became so damaged that it was removed in the late 18th century. The second was put into place by the French Architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1859, and destroyed in a violent fire on 15 April 2019.
context_section_description: An operation to restore the spire began on 11 April 2019, as part of a larger restoration of the cathedral which would last ten years and cost an estimated 60 million euros. The sixteen statues were removed with an 80 metres (260 ft) tall crane and transported in pairs to a workshop to be restored. While one pair was being worked on the other fourteen statues would still be on display within the cathedral.
  On 15 April 2019, around 6:50 pm, a fire began in the eaves of the cathedral. Rapidly the fire spread to the rest of the roof. The heat, estimated to be more than 800 °C (1,470 °F) made the lead coating melt into the wood of the spire, which did not prevent it from burning. The fire emitted toxic fumes so neighboring areas were evacuated.
  The upper part of the spire collapsed around 7:45 pm. Its fall caused the destruction of part of the vaults of the nave. The collapse of the tower caused the destruction of the crossing of the transept.
  The sixteen statues around the spire had been taken down four days earlier and sent off to be restored. They were not affected by the fire. The rooster at the top of the spire became detached during the fall. Thought to be lost, It was found damaged in the debris the following day. It was sent off to join the statues at Socra, a French art conservation society.
caption: Close up of the Spire during the blaze
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.4", "Image DateTime": "2019:04:18 10:42:04", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "182", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "256", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11835"}