A fire broke out on July 18 inside a Gothic cathedral in the city of Nantes, in western France. (File)
Rennes:
A volunteer church assistant confessed to setting a fire that severely damaged a Gothic cathedral in the city of Nantes in western France, his lawyer said on Sunday, though his motives remain a mystery.
The 39-year-old asylum seeker from Rwanda who has lived in France for several years was arrested on Saturday after lab tests determined arson was the likely cause of the blaze, said the local prosecutor’s office.
“My client is cooperating,” lawyer Quentin Chabert said at a press conference in Nantes, without venturing into the reasons for the attempt to set fire to Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul cathedral.
“Obviously it was a relief for him to show, as he would say, his repentance. As a believer, it is important for him to show this effort,” he said.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into the morning arson fire on July 18 after finding it had broken out at three different locations in the church, which the volunteer had locked up the night before.
He was questioned the next day but later released without charge, with the rector of the cathedral saying: “I trust him as I trust all in attendance.”
But Nantes prosecutor Pierre Sennes said in a statement on Saturday that he had been arrested and charged with “destruction and damage by fire”, and faces up to 10 years in prison and 150,000 euros ($ 175,000 ) fine.
“He admitted during his first appearance for questioning before the examining magistrate to have lit three fires in the cathedral: at the main organ, at the smallest organ and at the electrical panel,” said Dimanche Sennes to the newspaper Presse-Océan .
“Stone by stone”
The blaze came 15 months after the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which raised questions about the security risks of other historic churches across France.
While firefighters were able to contain the Nantes blaze after just two hours and save the main structure, its famous organ, which dated from 1621 and had survived the French Revolution and WWII bombings, was destroyed.
Priceless artifacts and paintings were also lost, including a work by 19th-century artist Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin and stained-glass windows containing remains of 16th-century glass.
Work on the cathedral began in 1434 and continued over the following centuries until 1891.
It had already been damaged by a more serious fire in 1972, when authorities added concrete reinforcements while re-roofing over the next 13 years.
The French government has said it will ensure the restoration of the cathedral, although very few, if any, parts of the main organ are likely to be saved, said Philippe Charron, head of the regional agency of the DRAC heritage.
“It will take several weeks to secure the site … and several months of inspections which will be carried out stone by stone,” he said.
The reconstruction will take several years, he said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
