Before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, engulfed in flames on Monday, several heritage sites around the world have been either completely or partially destroyed by fires. Here are some examples.

Brazil’s National Museum 

Overnight Sept. 2-3, 2018, Brazil’s National Museum, north of Rio de Janeiro, was ravaged by a massive fire. 

Latin America’s largest natural history and anthropology museum held more than 20 million artifacts and 530,000 titles.

The museum was particularly reputed for the richness of its paleontology department with more than 26,000 fossils, including a dinosaur skeleton discovered in Brazil’s central Minas Gerais.

Several specimen of species that disappeared in the blaze included giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers.

Venice opera house 

In 1996, Venice’s celebrated opera house La Fenice was gutted by fire.With its near-perfect acoustics, La Fenice, opened in 1792, was one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world and one of the most famous in the history of opera.

Two electricians were sentenced to six and seven years in prison on negligence charges.

It reopened in 2004.

Barcelona opera house 

In 1994, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona’s world-famous opera house was destroyed by fire. 

One of Spain’s cultural jewels, the 150-year-old theater was gutted in a blaze in which only the foyer and the horseshoe arch over the auditorium were left standing. It has since been reconstructed.

Windsor Castle

A major fire at Windsor Castle, west of London, on Nov. 20, 1992, destroyed the northeastern part of the royal site, the queen’s weekend residence.

Nine of the rooms were left unrecognizable by the fire, which started in the former Chapel Royal when a lighting projector too close to a curtain started the blaze during routine maintenance work.

It took 250 firefighters working 15 hours and pumping more than 6.5 million liters (1.6 million gallons) of water to bring the blaze under control.

The Castle reopened to the public in 1997 after five years of restoration.

Bosnia’s National Library

Bosnia’s 19th century National Library was destroyed in the war-time siege of the city of Sarajevo, overnight on 25-26 Aug. 1992.

It had housed some two million books, old scripts, photographs and transcripts before it was shelled by Serb forces who kept Sarajevo under a three-and-a-half-year long siege.

Only some 10% of its resources were saved from the resulting fire.

Reconstruction works, part-financed by the European Union, began in 1996 and the new library was inaugurated in 2014.

Geneva’s Grand Theater

In 1951, the Grand Theater of Geneva in Switzerland, built in the 19th century, was devastated in a fire that began during the preparation for a performance of Richard Wagner’s “The Valkyrie.”

It reopened in 1962. 
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Before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, engulfed in flames on Monday, several heritage sites around the world have been either completely or partially destroyed by fires. Here are some examples.

Brazil’s National Museum 

Overnight Sept. 2-3, 2018, Brazil’s National Museum, north of Rio de Janeiro, was ravaged by a massive fire. 

Latin America’s largest natural history and anthropology museum held more than 20 million artifacts and 530,000 titles.

The museum was particularly reputed for the richness of its paleontology department with more than 26,000 fossils, including a dinosaur skeleton discovered in Brazil’s central Minas Gerais.

Several specimen of species that disappeared in the blaze included giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers.

Venice opera house 

In 1996, Venice’s celebrated opera house La Fenice was gutted by fire.With its near-perfect acoustics, La Fenice, opened in 1792, was one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world and one of the most famous in the history of opera.

Two electricians were sentenced to six and seven years in prison on negligence charges.

It reopened in 2004.

Barcelona opera house 

In 1994, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona’s world-famous opera house was destroyed by fire. 

One of Spain’s cultural jewels, the 150-year-old theater was gutted in a blaze in which only the foyer and the horseshoe arch over the auditorium were left standing. It has since been reconstructed.

Windsor Castle

A major fire at Windsor Castle, west of London, on Nov. 20, 1992, destroyed the northeastern part of the royal site, the queen’s weekend residence.

Nine of the rooms were left unrecognizable by the fire, which started in the former Chapel Royal when a lighting projector too close to a curtain started the blaze during routine maintenance work.

It took 250 firefighters working 15 hours and pumping more than 6.5 million liters (1.6 million gallons) of water to bring the blaze under control.

The Castle reopened to the public in 1997 after five years of restoration.

Bosnia’s National Library

Bosnia’s 19th century National Library was destroyed in the war-time siege of the city of Sarajevo, overnight on 25-26 Aug. 1992.

It had housed some two million books, old scripts, photographs and transcripts before it was shelled by Serb forces who kept Sarajevo under a three-and-a-half-year long siege.

Only some 10% of its resources were saved from the resulting fire.

Reconstruction works, part-financed by the European Union, began in 1996 and the new library was inaugurated in 2014.

Geneva’s Grand Theater

In 1951, the Grand Theater of Geneva in Switzerland, built in the 19th century, was devastated in a fire that began during the preparation for a performance of Richard Wagner’s “The Valkyrie.”

It reopened in 1962. 
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President Donald Trump says he will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to legendary golfer Tiger Woods, who just captured his fifth Masters championship.It was his 15th major professional victory after an 11-year drought from winning the sport’s biggest tournaments.

Trump tweeted that he spoke to Woods to “congratulate him on the great victory.”

Woods shot a 2 under par 70 on a drizzly day at the Augusta National Golf Club in the southern U.S. state of Georgia to finish 13 under par for the tournament, a shot better than three other American golfers, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.

Woods, with a big smile on his face, thrust both arms into the air as he holed his final putt on the 18th green for a bogey. He hugged his mother, Kultida Woods, his two children, daughter Sam and son Charlie, and other well-wishers as he headed to the clubhouse to sign his scorecard.

At 43, Woods is the oldest Masters champion since Jack Nicklaus, who won the 1986 Masters at 46. The 79-year-old Nicklaus holds the record for most major golf championships with 18, with Woods now trailing the mark by three.

With Woods’ dearth of recent major championships, the Nicklaus mark appeared increasingly distant for the aging Woods. The last 11 years have marked a period of personal turmoil for Woods as he underwent several surgeries to repair back injuries that inhibited his performance or stopped him from playing at all. He also was divorced from his wife, Elin Nordegren, after a string of his highly publicized extramarital affairs.
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President Donald Trump says he will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to legendary golfer Tiger Woods, who just captured his fifth Masters championship.It was his 15th major professional victory after an 11-year drought from winning the sport’s biggest tournaments.

Trump tweeted that he spoke to Woods to “congratulate him on the great victory.”

Woods shot a 2 under par 70 on a drizzly day at the Augusta National Golf Club in the southern U.S. state of Georgia to finish 13 under par for the tournament, a shot better than three other American golfers, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.

Woods, with a big smile on his face, thrust both arms into the air as he holed his final putt on the 18th green for a bogey. He hugged his mother, Kultida Woods, his two children, daughter Sam and son Charlie, and other well-wishers as he headed to the clubhouse to sign his scorecard.

At 43, Woods is the oldest Masters champion since Jack Nicklaus, who won the 1986 Masters at 46. The 79-year-old Nicklaus holds the record for most major golf championships with 18, with Woods now trailing the mark by three.

With Woods’ dearth of recent major championships, the Nicklaus mark appeared increasingly distant for the aging Woods. The last 11 years have marked a period of personal turmoil for Woods as he underwent several surgeries to repair back injuries that inhibited his performance or stopped him from playing at all. He also was divorced from his wife, Elin Nordegren, after a string of his highly publicized extramarital affairs.
…

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When the last drop — or gallon — of blood is shed and an exultant victor has ascended to the Iron Throne, viewers may be split over how HBO’s fantasy saga ended but they’ll be joined in deprivation.

“What do you do without `Game of Thrones?”‘ will be the lament heard after the May 19 finale, said media analyst Larry Gerbrandt. The question is even more critical to the pay-cable channel, which soared on dragon’s wings with its hugely popular, eight-season adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s novels.

Keeping subscribers on board means more than another hit, even one as globally dazzling as “Game of Thrones” proved to be. But it’s where HBO can start to protect its brand and position, observers say, an effort both demanded and compounded by an increasingly congested small-screen landscape and the expectations of the channel’s corporate owner since 2016, AT&T.

“I think they need a prestige show on this level to remain HBO,” Bill Carter, a media analyst for CNN and former reporter for The New York Times. But “more than ever, it’s really hard to find a hit show and to break through in this marketplace.”

The channel is well into the hunt for a worthy successor, with one possibility an untitled prequel to “Game of Thrones” created by Martin and Jane Goldman and starring Naomi Watts. Set to begin shooting a pilot in June, it’s among several potential “Thrones” spinoffs being weighed, with discussions at HBO about “how many is too many,” said programming chief Casey Bloys.

“We have high hopes” for the pilot, he said. “But I want to be clear, nobody is going into this thinking that we’re going to do a prequel and all of a sudden everybody who automatically watched `Game of Thrones’ is going to watch this. … It’ll have a different feel and different rhythm. We’re not trying to do the same show again.”

That begs the question of what more HBO has to offer, he said. During a period in which “Game of Thrones” was off the air for scheduling reasons, series including “Westworld,” “Sharp Objects” and “Barry” proved strong draws, Bloys said.

“I’m not going to argue that we won’t miss `Game of Thrones.’ It’s been a fantastic show for us, but life does go on,” he said. He points to a deep bench of returnees, including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon’s “Big Little Lies,” and newcomers including the graphic novel-based “Watchmen” from “Lost” producer Damon Lindelof. One marquee series that’s also in its final season: the much-admired comedy “Veep,” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

HBO, which launched in 1972 and whose cachet has long justified the boastful slogan, “It’s not TV. It’s HBO,” has reached this crossroads before. At the turn of the century, pop-culture sensations “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” boosted the channel’s visibility and subscribers and made it a serious player for prestige awards — including cable’s first-ever Emmys for best drama and comedy series. After the shows wrapped, the channel moved nimbly on with audience-pleasers including “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood.”

But that was then, and this is the time of streaming — or, in shorthand, Netflix, along with a growing host of others including Amazon and Hulu — and a shoulder-bumping rush for stars and showmakers to churn out more and more fare for outlets already awash in programming.

HBO, no longer a singular alternative to staid broadcast networks, also got new corporate ownership when AT&T bought its parent company, Time Warner. HBO recently saw the exit of its chief executive, Richard Plepler, who had been with the channel for nearly 30 years and guided it to “Game of Thrones” glory.

With AT&T’s resources, HBO has stepped up production and will see a 50% increase in the number of original program hours this year, Bloys said, arguing that volume doesn’t preclude high quality: “There’s nothing in 2019 that we’re putting on the air because we’re trying to hit an hour count. … We haven’t lowered any of our standards to reach a certain level of programming” and there is no pressure to do otherwise from WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, he said.

Subscribers ultimately will decide whether they think the shows are what they want. But expanding the pipeline is unavoidable, said Tuna Amobi, a media and entertainment analyst with investment firm CFRA.

“It’s a very different competitive landscape for HBO than it was when they launched `Game of Thrones,’ and they realize that. That’s why you see them ratcheting up their investments in their programming,” Amobi said. Also key is how HBO’s online platform is integrated with planned WarnerMedia streaming offerings to reach the broadest audience possible and make full use of its content, he added.

HBO “cannot rely on the old ways of doing things and hope that being a premium channel will bail you out,” he said.

“Game of Thrones,” which debuted in 2011, has flourished despite the confounding number of small-screen choices. From its first-season average weekly tally of 9.3 million cumulative viewers, the series rose to a seventh-season high of 32.8 million across all HBO platforms, including the channel itself and streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now and over a period extending 30 days beyond the season’s end.

It benefited from the devoted following for Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” clutch of novels. It was richly and painstakingly produced, filmed in 10 countries including Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Iceland and Canada. Its appealing cast became household names, and the female characters that grew in stature and strength as the drama unfolded are routinely namechecked as part of the female-empowerment zeitgeist.

“Game of Thrones” could boast of its Emmy dominance as well, with 47 trophies to date including three best drama series awards. Last year, it denied a second consecutive win to a worthy opponent, Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but HBO itself lost valuable Emmy bragging rights: It was surpassed in total nominations for the first time in 17 years and by relative newcomer Netflix, and the streamer tied HBO in wins.

Analyst Gerbrandt, of Media Valuation Partners, isn’t counting the channel out. Many viewers still like so-called “curated” TV delivered to them, as opposed to searching online through dozens or hundreds of offerings, he said. There’s also the power of perception at work.

“If there’s a brand that survives strictly on name, it’s probably HBO,” he said.
…

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When the last drop — or gallon — of blood is shed and an exultant victor has ascended to the Iron Throne, viewers may be split over how HBO’s fantasy saga ended but they’ll be joined in deprivation.

“What do you do without `Game of Thrones?”‘ will be the lament heard after the May 19 finale, said media analyst Larry Gerbrandt. The question is even more critical to the pay-cable channel, which soared on dragon’s wings with its hugely popular, eight-season adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s novels.

Keeping subscribers on board means more than another hit, even one as globally dazzling as “Game of Thrones” proved to be. But it’s where HBO can start to protect its brand and position, observers say, an effort both demanded and compounded by an increasingly congested small-screen landscape and the expectations of the channel’s corporate owner since 2016, AT&T.

“I think they need a prestige show on this level to remain HBO,” Bill Carter, a media analyst for CNN and former reporter for The New York Times. But “more than ever, it’s really hard to find a hit show and to break through in this marketplace.”

The channel is well into the hunt for a worthy successor, with one possibility an untitled prequel to “Game of Thrones” created by Martin and Jane Goldman and starring Naomi Watts. Set to begin shooting a pilot in June, it’s among several potential “Thrones” spinoffs being weighed, with discussions at HBO about “how many is too many,” said programming chief Casey Bloys.

“We have high hopes” for the pilot, he said. “But I want to be clear, nobody is going into this thinking that we’re going to do a prequel and all of a sudden everybody who automatically watched `Game of Thrones’ is going to watch this. … It’ll have a different feel and different rhythm. We’re not trying to do the same show again.”

That begs the question of what more HBO has to offer, he said. During a period in which “Game of Thrones” was off the air for scheduling reasons, series including “Westworld,” “Sharp Objects” and “Barry” proved strong draws, Bloys said.

“I’m not going to argue that we won’t miss `Game of Thrones.’ It’s been a fantastic show for us, but life does go on,” he said. He points to a deep bench of returnees, including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon’s “Big Little Lies,” and newcomers including the graphic novel-based “Watchmen” from “Lost” producer Damon Lindelof. One marquee series that’s also in its final season: the much-admired comedy “Veep,” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

HBO, which launched in 1972 and whose cachet has long justified the boastful slogan, “It’s not TV. It’s HBO,” has reached this crossroads before. At the turn of the century, pop-culture sensations “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” boosted the channel’s visibility and subscribers and made it a serious player for prestige awards — including cable’s first-ever Emmys for best drama and comedy series. After the shows wrapped, the channel moved nimbly on with audience-pleasers including “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood.”

But that was then, and this is the time of streaming — or, in shorthand, Netflix, along with a growing host of others including Amazon and Hulu — and a shoulder-bumping rush for stars and showmakers to churn out more and more fare for outlets already awash in programming.

HBO, no longer a singular alternative to staid broadcast networks, also got new corporate ownership when AT&T bought its parent company, Time Warner. HBO recently saw the exit of its chief executive, Richard Plepler, who had been with the channel for nearly 30 years and guided it to “Game of Thrones” glory.

With AT&T’s resources, HBO has stepped up production and will see a 50% increase in the number of original program hours this year, Bloys said, arguing that volume doesn’t preclude high quality: “There’s nothing in 2019 that we’re putting on the air because we’re trying to hit an hour count. … We haven’t lowered any of our standards to reach a certain level of programming” and there is no pressure to do otherwise from WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, he said.

Subscribers ultimately will decide whether they think the shows are what they want. But expanding the pipeline is unavoidable, said Tuna Amobi, a media and entertainment analyst with investment firm CFRA.

“It’s a very different competitive landscape for HBO than it was when they launched `Game of Thrones,’ and they realize that. That’s why you see them ratcheting up their investments in their programming,” Amobi said. Also key is how HBO’s online platform is integrated with planned WarnerMedia streaming offerings to reach the broadest audience possible and make full use of its content, he added.

HBO “cannot rely on the old ways of doing things and hope that being a premium channel will bail you out,” he said.

“Game of Thrones,” which debuted in 2011, has flourished despite the confounding number of small-screen choices. From its first-season average weekly tally of 9.3 million cumulative viewers, the series rose to a seventh-season high of 32.8 million across all HBO platforms, including the channel itself and streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now and over a period extending 30 days beyond the season’s end.

It benefited from the devoted following for Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” clutch of novels. It was richly and painstakingly produced, filmed in 10 countries including Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Iceland and Canada. Its appealing cast became household names, and the female characters that grew in stature and strength as the drama unfolded are routinely namechecked as part of the female-empowerment zeitgeist.

“Game of Thrones” could boast of its Emmy dominance as well, with 47 trophies to date including three best drama series awards. Last year, it denied a second consecutive win to a worthy opponent, Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but HBO itself lost valuable Emmy bragging rights: It was surpassed in total nominations for the first time in 17 years and by relative newcomer Netflix, and the streamer tied HBO in wins.

Analyst Gerbrandt, of Media Valuation Partners, isn’t counting the channel out. Many viewers still like so-called “curated” TV delivered to them, as opposed to searching online through dozens or hundreds of offerings, he said. There’s also the power of perception at work.

“If there’s a brand that survives strictly on name, it’s probably HBO,” he said.
…

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The wind slowed down and the rain stopped.

Worknesh Degefa never did.

The 28-year-old Ethiopian broke away from defending champion Des Linden and the rest of the women’s pack in the Framingham flats and ran alone to her first major victory on Monday, winning the Boston Marathon by 44 seconds.

Degefa finished in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 31 seconds to become the eighth Ethiopian woman to win the race and the third in seven years. Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat was second, American Jordan Hasay was third and Linden was fifth.

One year after an icy rain and a near-gale headwind resulted in the slowest winning times in four decades, race organizers again prepared for the foul New England weather. But overnight thunderstorms moved on before the runners left Hopkinton; the sun even made an appearance about halfway through.

Linden took advantage of last year’s storm to splash her way to the first win for an American woman since 1985.

But with conditions back to normal, so were the results: East Africans from Kenya and Ethiopia dominating the podiums.

A field of 30,000 runners followed the elites, ditching their trash bags and ponchos on the Hopkinton Green before embarking on the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Copley Square. It’s the first time the race has been run on April 15 since the 2013 attacks; officials planned a ceremony at 2:49 p.m. to honor those killed or maimed by the two pressure cooker bombs that exploded near the finish line.

Daniel Romanchuk, 20, became the youngest-ever men’s wheelchair champion in Boston. He finished in 1:21:36 for the fastest time ever for an American.

Manuela Schar won the women’s race for the second time, adding it to her titles in in Berlin, Chicago, New York and Tokyo. If she wins in London in two weeks, she will have swept the World Marathon Major series.
…

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The wind slowed down and the rain stopped.

Worknesh Degefa never did.

The 28-year-old Ethiopian broke away from defending champion Des Linden and the rest of the women’s pack in the Framingham flats and ran alone to her first major victory on Monday, winning the Boston Marathon by 44 seconds.

Degefa finished in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 31 seconds to become the eighth Ethiopian woman to win the race and the third in seven years. Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat was second, American Jordan Hasay was third and Linden was fifth.

One year after an icy rain and a near-gale headwind resulted in the slowest winning times in four decades, race organizers again prepared for the foul New England weather. But overnight thunderstorms moved on before the runners left Hopkinton; the sun even made an appearance about halfway through.

Linden took advantage of last year’s storm to splash her way to the first win for an American woman since 1985.

But with conditions back to normal, so were the results: East Africans from Kenya and Ethiopia dominating the podiums.

A field of 30,000 runners followed the elites, ditching their trash bags and ponchos on the Hopkinton Green before embarking on the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Copley Square. It’s the first time the race has been run on April 15 since the 2013 attacks; officials planned a ceremony at 2:49 p.m. to honor those killed or maimed by the two pressure cooker bombs that exploded near the finish line.

Daniel Romanchuk, 20, became the youngest-ever men’s wheelchair champion in Boston. He finished in 1:21:36 for the fastest time ever for an American.

Manuela Schar won the women’s race for the second time, adding it to her titles in in Berlin, Chicago, New York and Tokyo. If she wins in London in two weeks, she will have swept the World Marathon Major series.
…

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