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(Nantes) The day after the fire that damaged the Gothic cathedral of Nantes, in western France, a volunteer from the diocese was heard in police custody Sunday while the forensic science was at work to try to determine the origin of the fire.
Published on 18 July 2020 at 728
France Media Agency
The volunteer “was responsible for closing the cathedral on Friday evening and the investigators wanted to clarify certain elements of the timetable for this person,” explained to AFP Pierre Sennès, public prosecutor of Nantes.
The investigators wish to hear this man “on the conditions of closure of the cathedral” Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, but Mr. Sennès emphasizes that “Any interpretation which could implicate this person in the commission of the facts is premature and hasty”.
The fire that broke out on Saturday in the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, a 16th century building e century, destroyed stained-glass windows and objects of art, including the great organ.
The fire revived the painful memories of the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris on 11 April 2019, even if the claim was quickly circumscribed.
No sign of tampering with the exterior accesses was noted, the prosecutor recalled on Saturday. According to Father Hubert Champenois, rector of the cathedral interviewed by AFP on Saturday, “everything was in order” Friday evening. “Every evening, before closing it, a very precise inspection” is carried out, he said.
But questions arise about the origin of the fire, because there are “three distinct fire points” inside the cathedral . “Between the large organ, which is on the facade on the first floor and the other lights, you have almost the entire distance from the cathedral, they are still at a substantial distance from each other”, noted the prosecutor on Saturday.
PHOTO LUDOVIC STANG, VIA REUTERS
On site Sunday morning, a large security perimeter is still in place in front of the cathedral, keeping curious people away, noted a photographer from the 'AFP.
Since Saturday afternoon, fire experts from the scientific and technical police laboratory have been working to try to determine the origin of the incident in the context of of the investigation opened for “arson”.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, accompanied by the Ministers of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, visited Saturday afternoon- noon in Nantes, paying tribute “to the dedication and great professionalism of the over 100 firefighters who were mobilized from the start of the disaster and who managed it with remarkable efficiency”.
He promised that the state “will take its full part” in the reconstruction “which I hope will be as rapid as possible”.
The construction of the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, in flamboyant Gothic style, lasted several centuries (from 1434 at 1891).
