Authorities have started an arson investigation after a major fire broke out at Nantes Cathedral in France.
It took around 104 firefighters to control the blaze for several hours.
According to prosecutor Pierre Sennes, three fires had sparked at the cathedral and police are treating the incident as a criminal act.
The fire comes more than a year after the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was engulfed in blaze, which destroyed its main spire and roof.
104 firefighters were at the site to make sure the fire was under control, local fire chief Laurent Ferlay said to reporters.
According to reports, the blaze had sparked behind the grand organ. The cathedral’s stained-glass windows were also destroyed but the damage was not as bad as they first thought.
Nantes Major Johanna Rolland said: “It is a part of our history, a part of our heritage. We have all have these images in mind, this story in our hearts, but at this stage the situation does not seem to be comparable to that of 1972.”
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and French Prime Minister Jean Castex will be among officials who will visit the Nantes Cathedral.
“We are not in a Notre Dame de Paris scenario. The roof has not been touched,” local fire chief Ferlay added.
During World War Two, the cathedral was party destroyed after Allied bombings. A 1972 fire also completely damaged its roof but was rebuilt with a concrete structure 13 years later.
“The fire of 1972 is in our minds, but at this stage the simulation is not comparable,” Mayor Rolland said to reporters.
Cecile Renaud, a worker in a bakery in front of the cathedral and contacted emergency services, told reporters: “It was a huge shock. It’s extremely sad.”
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