This is beyond religion…

With its iconic cathedral scorched but still standing, France on Tuesday was contending with the aftermath of a fire that gutted a symbol of the nation, and which authorities said had probably started by accident.

The fire was contained and smoke had cleared from the sky as French officials launched an investigation into what triggered the Notre Dame inferno and an assessment of whether the stone facade of the church remained structurally strong.

From certain angles on Tuesday, it was almost possible to look head-on at the church — see its two rectangular bell towers and carved statues — and imagine that all was intact. Much of the valued art and relics had been saved. Even the exquisite stained glass windows remained in place, seemingly immune to the previous day’s flames.

But that belied the somber accounting of all that had been lost, and how the religious and architectural landmark at Paris’s center had been altered. The church’s trademark steeple, part of the Parisian skyline since the mid-1800s, had been swallowed in the flames. Char and smoke marks licked portions of the walls. And the roof — constructed with centuries-old wood — had been destroyed like tinder, leaving gaping holes that let sunlight shine into the cathedral Tuesday.

French luxury magnate François-Henri Pinault declared that his family would dedicate about $113 million to the effort. Hours later, the family of Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the LVMH luxury conglomerate and the richest man in Europe, pledged a gift of $226 million. By Thursday evening in Paris, private pledges had topped $700 million.

Several French people who had started smaller crowdfunding campaigns described on Tuesday being moved by the gestures.

“I am not religious myself; I’m an atheist,” said Charles Gosse, 23, a business school student who launched an online funding campaign and quickly raised $27,000. “But this is beyond religion. It is a national monument like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.”

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