Notre Dame Crypt Opens For First Time Since Massive Fire | TODAY

TODAY WE’RE GETTING A TINY GLIMMER OF HOPE FROM AN UNLIKELY PLACE. THIS MORNING ONE SMALL PART OF NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL IS REOPENING. ALMOST A YEAR AND A HALF AFTER THE ICONIC CHURCH IN PARIS WAS NEARLY DESTROYED IN A MASSIVE FIRE. IN THE CATHEDRAL’S SHADOW, UNDERGROUND IS THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CRYPT. THE REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT CITY BUILT BEFORE PEOPLE CALLED THIS PARIS. IT’S FILLED WITH DANGEROUS LEAD DUST THAT HAD TO BE CAREFULLY CLEANED. TODAY VISITORS FINALLY HAD THEIR FIRST LOOK AT THE CLEANED RUINS. >> I LOVED VISITING NOTRE DAME. SO IT’S A GOOD FIRST START TO BE ABLE TO VISIT UNDERNEATH. >> Reporter: ALSO ON DISPLAY, A NEW EXHIBIT HONORING AUTHOR VICTOR HUGO. HIS FAMOUS NOVEL "THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME" INSPIRED SEVERAL FILMS AND DREW A LOOK AT THE DECREPIT STATE. THE ENTIRE ROOF DESTROYED BY FLAMES. >> NOW IT’S BECOME A SOLEMN SPECTACLE. ALL OF THE PEOPLE LOOKING WONDERING HOW LONG IT’S GOING TO TAKE TO REBUILD NOTRE DAME. >> Reporter: THE DAMAGE COULD COST A BILLION DOLLARS AND THE REPAIRS COULD TAKE AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. >> IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE AND IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO GO BACK TO NOTRE DAME NOW. >> Reporter: HE HOPES THIS EXHIBIT WILL REMIND EVERYONE THAT NOTRE DAME IS WORTH SAVING. YOU KNOW, WITH THE FIRE AND THEN WITH THE PANDEMIC, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE NOTHING IS GOING NOTRE DAME’S WAY. BUT CRAIG, I WAS LOOKING AT THAT EXHIBIT. IT REALLY REMINDS YOU THAT THIS GORGEOUS THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD CATHEDRAL HAS SEEN AND SURVIVED SO MANY CATASTROPHES BEFORE. THAT’S WHY PARISIANS ARE HOPEFUL THIS HOUR LADY OF PARIS WILL PERSIST ONCE AGAIN. >> SUCH A TESTAMENT, MATT, TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT. NOT JUST THERE IN PARIS BUT AROUND THE WORLD. THERE ARE SO MANY FOLKS WHO WERE

Channel: TODAY

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Keywords: News, Editor's picks, Big News, World, The TODAY Show, TODAY Show, TODAY, NBC, NBC News, Celebrity Interviews, Lifestyle, TODAY Show Interview, Hoda and Jenna, Hoda, Donna Farizan, Al Roker, TODAY show news, French poet, Victor Marie Hugo, novelist, dramatist, Massive Fire, Notre Dame Crypt, Dame Crypt Opens, Notre Dame Cathedral, medieval Catholic cathedral, Notre Dame, Matt Bradley, TODAY from Paris, notre dame fire, notre dame cathedral 2020, notre dame cathedral fire

Id: BtH0fR5n9m0

Length: 2min 26sec (146 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020