Notre Dame Cathedral fire: UT French professors, Diocese of Knoxville, local teachers react

Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the world's most iconic churches, caught fire Monday. 

Cristiane Davis visited Notre Dame on Wednesday on a trip to Paris and London.

When she returned to Knoxville and first heard about the fire, Davis thought it was at Paris' other famous church, Sacré-Coeur. She said it was "surreal" to realize it was Notre Dame. 

On their visit, the cathedral was closed for the day, but she spent two hours enjoying the cathedral square and gardens. It was a cold day and rained that morning, she said, so there weren't many tourists around. 

“I’m fortunate that I was there to see that," Davis said. "It is so sad that the church is not going to be the same anymore.”

'Seemed eternal'

University of Tennessee French professor Mary McAlpin was in shock Monday afternoon in Knoxville.

“It’s unbelievable," she said. "It’s just such an iconic landmark, it’s the center of Paris. It’s literally the point from which they measure everything else in Paris.”

Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame, not the Eiffel Tower, is the symbol of Paris to the French people.

"It just is something that seemed eternal," she said.

A group of UT students will visit France in late May with UT distinguished lecturer Florence Abad-Turner. Notre Dame is one of the major stops for the students. 

"They won't see it. That's it," she said. "It's burned to the ground."  

Abad-Turner was planning to go to Mass while there to go beyond the tourist experience.

"Many civilizations lose very, very important places of architectural significance, places of worship, if you think about Pompeii or the hanging gardens of Babylon," she said. "I feel like we have lost some of our history. It's gone." 

'When you think of Paris'

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The cathedral had been undergoing a $6.8 million renovation. 

Flo Fillers, a French teacher at Bearden Middle School, is from Limoges, France.

“I’m French originally, so to me, it just breaks my heart," she said. "This is part of my country, my culture, my heritage.”

Fillers took many students to Paris while she taught French at Farragut High School. 

“You see it burn in a matter of no time, but it took over 100 years to build," she said. "It’s been there for over 900 years … it’s been through so many crazy historical things and here you have it, now it’s burning.”

Paul Barrette, vice president of the Alliance Francaise Knoxville and a UT French professor, called it a horrible blow to an essential piece of European culture. 

He was concerned specifically about the church's historic organ.

“You wonder if it survives," Barrette said. "Everybody goes there for free musical concerts.”

'Prayers and support' to France

Diocese of Knoxville Bishop Richard F. Stika said the news was shocking.

"This cathedral dates back almost 900 years and it is not only a place of worship but also a symbol of France itself," he said in a statement. "The Diocese of Knoxville offers prayers and support to our brothers and sisters in France. In the coming days I will send a letter to the Archbishop of Paris offering words of support and affection."

Stika offered his prayers to the people fighting the fire and others involved.

"I hope that, if possible, the cathedral will be repaired so it will continue to be a living symbol of our love for God through faith, and that it also will remain a symbol of France itself."

Director of Communications Jim Wogan said he was not aware of any diocese members currently in Paris.

The diocese called for prayers on Twitter. 

"Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic and beautiful symbol of the Church in France, is on fire," the tweet read. "Saint Florian, pray for Notre Dame and all involved!"

Looking out onto Notre Dame

Marilyn Kallet is a professor emeritus at UT, a Knoxville poet and frequent traveler to France.

"Each spring I view Notre Dame from my little hotel room window," Kallet wrote in an email. "It's a place to focus my love for Paris, for beauty, for history, poetry, spirit. I saw the picture of the spire toppling a few minutes ago, and I felt it in my heart, the crumbling, the loss. We all said 'NO!' I will go back to Paris in late June, walk the banks of the Seine, and try to translate the empty space. As Verlaine said, 'There's crying in my heart ... .' "

Allen and Susan Tate, owners of French Market Crêperie, lived in France in the winter of 2008. Their apartment looked out at Notre Dame.

“I just can’t imagine what those poor people and the people of France are thinking,” Allen Tate said. “It’s such an icon for the city.”

He was thinking of the many people who had planned to attend Easter Sunday services there this week, as well as the artwork and stained glass inside.

“That’s what is so devastating," he said. "It’s not a ruin; it’s a working, usable building.”

Where people could feel history

Jay Rubenstein is a history professor at UT. He has many personal memories of the cathedral.

“I’m not the only one to have that relationship with it," he said. "It’s close to a lot of people’s hearts, whether they’re French or not, whether they’re Catholic or not.”

It was a place people could go to feel history, he said, from the rose windows to the gargoyles to the famous flying buttresses to his favorite statue depicting a "joyful" young Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. 

“This (statue) somehow captured a sense of joy that I didn’t see in a lot of Christian art,” he said.

Halls High School and Middle School French teacher Amy Thomas will remember the height and grandeur of Notre Dame. On her first visit, she was able to climb to the top of the cathedral and remembers walking around among the gargoyles.

Her students learn about Notre Dame in a project about Paris' iconic sites.

"My students have been coming to me all afternoon to see if I had heard about it," she said. 

Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe first visited Notre Dame as a 10-year-old in 1955. He said he hopes the iconic structure will be rebuilt regardless of the cost. 

"It’s a piece of history that shouldn't be allowed to disappear,” he said. 

News Sentinel staff writer Monica Kast contributed to this story.