Notre Dame

Euronews takes a virtual tour of the monument, looking at the restoration work that was being conducted prior to the lockdown.

The Paris cathedral was ravaged by flames a year ago. Now the coronavirus lockdown is putting its rescue at risk.

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said the fire-damaged Notre Dame is so fragile that “there is maybe a 50% chance that it will be saved."

French authorities have no grounds to believe that the fire that wrecked Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral in April was the result of criminal activity, although they are looking into the possibility of negligence, said the Paris prosecutor's office.

Two months after a devastating fire destroyed the cathedral's spire and roof, the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, held mass for the anniversary of the cathedral's dedication as a place of prayer.

The roof renovation company repairing Notre Dame's roof confirmed to Euronews their workers smoked on top of the roof but denied it being at the origin of the fire that ravaged the gothic monument a week ago.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Friday that "the rioters have visibly not been moved by what happened at Notre-Dame."

Three churches destroyed by fires in the United States have seen a spike in donations following the flooding of funds to Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Several cities in Hungary have offered donations toward the reconstruction of Notre Dame as a form of repaying kindness to Paris, which sent help during a natural disaster in Hungary more than a century ago

Some French political parties have suspended their European election campaigns after the fire that ravaged the iconic Notre Dame cathedral on Monday night.