As people in Paris and around the world watched in horror as flames consumed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral, the blaze also stirred genuine emotions that could come only from witnessing the loss of beauty, art historian Elizabeth Lev said.
The April 15 fire that engulfed the centuries-old Gothic cathedral showed that although Notre Dame was a formidable structure, it was "vulnerable at the same time, much like Our Lady at the foot of the cross," Lev told Catholic News Service.
"People saw a thing of beauty -- universally recognized beauty -- hovering on the brink of destruction and realized that beauty does matter to us after all," she said.
