Other world heritage treasures that have also been devastated by the flames

Before Notre-Dame Cathedral, several world heritage treasures were devastated by the flames. Here are some examples:

– National Museum of Rio de Janeiro –

On the night of September 2, 2018, a fire caused the destruction of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro by a short circuit in an air conditioner. It has been considered the largest museum of natural and anthropological history in Latin America, with more than 20 million pieces.

The former imperial palace housed, for example, a dinosaur skeleton discovered in Minas Gerais and many specimens of other extinct species (lazy giants and saber-toothed tigers).

– The Shroud, saved from the flames –
In 1997, the San Juan Bautista Cathedral and the Royal Palace of Turin, north-west of Italy, were devastated by a fire. A firefighter managed to save the Shroud, one of the most revered relics by Catholics, by breaking with a hammer the bulletproof glbad that protected him. It is a garment that, according to tradition, wrapped the body of Christ after his crucifixion.

– Fenice of Venice –
In 1996, the Venice Opera, the Fenice, was totally destroyed by a fire. This theater, inaugurated in 1792, was one of the most prestigious in the world. Two electricians were sentenced to six and seven years in prison, accused of having fired to avoid paying penalties for the delay in the works. It reopened in 2004.

– Liceo de Barcelona –
In 1994, the Liceo de Barcelona, ​​the most famous opera house in Spain, almost 150 years old and located in the center of the city, was destroyed by a fire caused by a flash of torch. There was a wounded man. It has been rebuilt.

– Windsor Castle –
On November 20, 1992, the entire northeastern part of Windsor Castle, a royal residence located west of London, was destroyed by fire. The disaster, which barely avoided the queen's private apartments, began in the chapel, where a projector too close to a curtain burned the fabric.
After five years of restoration work in a hundred rooms affected, the castle reopened to the public in 1997.

– The Sarajevo Library –
The inter-communal war that hit Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 left about 100,000 dead, mostly Bosnian Muslims.

On August 25, 1992, Serbian gunners set fire to the National Library of Bosnia, built in 1896, in the mountains surrounding Sarajevo. Only about 300,000 books, out of more than two million works, have been saved from the flames among them many rare books.

The rebuilding of the building, which remained in ruins, began in 1996 and was partly financed by the European Union. The new library was inaugurated in 2014.

– The Grand Theater of Geneva –
In 1951, a fire destroyed the Grand Théâtre de Genève, built in the 19th century. A pyrotechnic effect test planned for a performance of Richard Wagner's The Valkyrie triggered the incident. It reopened in 1962, after 11 years of work.