Fire breaks out in spire of famous Notre Dame cathedral in northern France

Another cathedral is on fire in France, just a few months before Paris’ Notre-Dame is due to reopen after being ravaged by flames five years ago.

Rouen Cathedral – famous for its three towers, each in a different style – has been engulfed in flames.

The spire of the historic building in Normandy is shown on fire in footage shared online.

‘A fire has started on the spire of Rouen Cathedral. Origin unknown at this stage. All public resources are mobilised,’ wrote the city’s mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol on X.

The cathedral has since been evacuated and emergency services are have arrived on-site, according to regional officals.

It is thought the blaze broke out in a section of the cathedral where building works were taking place.

The spire, one of the tallest in Europe, was installed in 1876 to replace the previous one, which was also destroyed in a fire back in 1822.

The replacement spire was made entirely out of cast iron, which soon proved to unsuitable in the long term- government officials noted that the material ‘proves to be brittle and insufficiently flexible to cope with the stresses of bad weather.’

Signs of deteriation were first spotted in 1939, and attempts to renovate the spire were launched in 1974, without success.

The current building work was an attempt to finally finish the long-awaited renovations.

In the 19th century, French artist Claude Monet brought the cathedral to a global audience by painting it on several occasions.

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