Sebastien Ferrand with his wife Miranda Pollard, right and daughter Zoe. They are gutted at the destruction of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Photo/Tania Whyte
Sebastien Ferrand with his wife Miranda Pollard, right and daughter Zoe. They are gutted at the destruction of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Photo/Tania Whyte
Whangārei chef Sebastien Ferrand has fond memories of visiting Notre Dame in Paris as a child and initially thought news of the iconic city cathedral's devastation this week was fake.
The owner of Le Bistro de Paris cafe in central Whangārei hopes the 850-year-old structure adorned with priceless artefacts is rebuilt exactly the same as it's far too valuable to be permanently lost.
The world watched in horror as flames shot through the cathedral on before the spire toppled just over an hour later and the roof crashed.
The Notre Dame Cathedral, featuring stained-glass windows and priceless artefacts, seen burning.
Photo/Supplied
Ferrand hails from Burgundy, just south of Paris, where his family work in the hospitality sector and occasionally travel an hour to the French capital to visit the cathedral.
"I don't know how to explain what happened. Notre Dame is such an important part of Paris and France in general and I remember accompanying my parents to visit the cathedral as a child," Ferrand recalled.
"It's so majestic, even from the outside, but more impressive when you go inside. I read online about the fire and couldn't believe it. I thought it was fake but when I saw the damage on official French news channels, the extent of the loss began to dawn upon me."
Ferrand rang his mother in Burgundy on Tuesday evening and said she was understandably devastated, as were others throughout France.
"Notre Dame should be rebuilt exactly the same because it's the soul of Paris. There's a lot of history behind it. When you go inside, you feel like you've come to another planet," he said.
The Notre Dame Cathedral with its stained-glass windows was destroyed by fire while being renovated.
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Ferrand said finding out how Notre Dame got destroyed was just as important as rebuilding the cathedral.
He said the iconic building was also crucial for the local economy which depended on both French and overseas tourists.
He couldn't say how big an effect its destruction would have in terms of tourism numbers but predicted people from faraway places would come to Paris to see the damage.
Artefacts inside the building included the Crown of Thorns — a band of rushes said to be from the original crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head during his crucifixion, one of Notre Dame's most treasured relics — and the True Cross and Holy Nails, a purported fragment of the cross and an original nail with which Jesus was crucified.
French president Emmanuel Macron said he wants to see the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral rebuilt within five years.
Ferrand moved to New Zealand two years ago and began running Le Bistro de Paris about a year ago.
