“IF THIS MONUMENT is one day finished,” wrote Robert de Thorigny, a 12th-century Norman monk, of Notre Dame cathedral, “no other will ever compare.” The gothic edifice on an island in the historic heart of Paris is perhaps not unique. But it touches people—the spiritual and the secular, French and non-French—in unusually powerful ways. It is a place of worship, a testament to human ingenuity and a symbol of resilience. When on the evening of April 15th 2019 flames engulfed its timbered roof and toppled its spire, the shock and sorrow were global.