This archive report was first published on 19 July 2020.
On July 19, 2020, a man who worked at the Nantes cathedral in France was being questioned by investigators over a fire that damaged the building the previous day.
Prosecutor Pierre Sennes explained that the man was responsible for locking up the cathedral on the evening of July 17, 2020, and investigators wanted to clarify the schedule of this person.
However, Sennes emphasized that any interpretation that could implicate the man in the fire was premature, and that the questioning was part of normal procedure.
Prosecutors launched an arson investigation after the fire broke out on Saturday morning in three places at the gothic Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul.
The blaze destroyed stained glass windows and the 17th-century grand organ, a star attraction of the cathedral.
Despite the damage, about 100 firefighters managed to save the main structure, built between the 15th and 19th centuries.
Experts from a police unit specialized in fire investigations were at the scene, and investigators were awaiting authorization from firefighters to examine the platform on which the grand organ had stood.
According to Father Hubert Champenois, the cathedral rector, everything was in order the night before the fire, and a close inspection was made before the cathedral closed.
The building was last hit by fire in 1972, and its roof took over 13 years to repair.
Regional fire chief Laurent Ferlay stated that the damage was not comparable to the 1972 blaze or the devastating blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019.
