The French Minister of Culture assured that Notre Dame is "almost safe"

The cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris is "almost safe" despite some "sensitive points" in the vaultsaid Saturday evening the French Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, during a concert in tribute to the monument, five days after the fire.

"Our Lady is now almost saved because all the remaining sensitive points – the north pediment, the western pediment, between the two steeples of the facade, the south bell tower in danger -, all these points have been secured, stabilized and this is great news ", Riester explained.

"The vault remains, there are still sensitive points in the vault and the teams of the Ministry of Culture, the companies, are trying to remove the rubble that is still in the safe and cover it gradually, "he said.

"From there, we can say that Notre Dame de Paris is safe", He added to the hotel de los Invalides, in the center of Paris, a big concert in which dozens of artists came on stage.

"300,000 people have spontaneously donated, even modest, one euro, two euros, five euros: in total, nearly 20 million people have donated very modest", celebrated the radio presenter Stéphane Bern, who cited figures from the Heritage Foundation.

"Our Lady is a religious sanctuary, but it also moves us because it's a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, a jewel of our heritage, it's a book of our history", he added.

Dozens of artists followed one another on stage during the evening, Mireille Mathieu, the little singers of La Croix de Bois, the cellist Gauthier Capuçon and the Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

The Minister of Defense, Florence Parly, transmitted a message from the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle: a video where you can see, from the sky, to the sailors to form on the deck of the ship the drawing of the facade of the cathedral and the word "Paris" in the colors of the French flag.

(With information from AFP)