Nearly 200 years ago, Victor Hugo wrote the Hunchback of Notre-Dame because the cathedral was in the process of collapsing and falling apart and the work so revitalized the world's love for this church that it led to it being renovated. And it will have to be renovated again. And again. And no doubt this tragedy will have us throwing more money and effort towards this cause. That's the nature of architecture: it needs to be consistently restored and carefully preserved. Prior to the fire, it was in the process of being restored because it was already in a terribly fragile state, so all the important statues and paintings were already removed. Part of the roof is from the 13th century, yes, but the rest is from the 19th century.
Yes, this was a terrible accident, and even though we don't know the extent of the damage just yet, I am confident of one thing: it will be rebuilt. And more rigorous measures will no doubt be taken for restoration projects going forward (and maybe get them started sooner than later).
