FRANCE-NOTRE DAME-STATUES-RESTORATION

Patrick Palem, expert of the heritage restoration, holds the head of a statue showing the face of French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc as Saint Thomas, stored in SOCRA workshop in Marsac-sur-Isle near Bordeaux, on April 16, 2019, one of the statues which sat around the spire of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris and removed for restoration. - Paris was struck in its very heart as flames devoured the roof of Notre-Dame cathedral, causing a spire to collapse and raising fears over the future of the nearly millenium old building and its precious artworks. The sixteen statues which sitted around the spire of the cathedral, 12 apostles and the 4 evangelists commisioned in the 1860s during the great restoration of the cathedral by Viollet-le-Duc, have been removed in April to be sent in southwest France for restoration. (Photo by GEORGES GOBET / AFP) (Photo credit should read GEORGES GOBET/AFP via Getty Images)