Ethiopia on Thursday confirmed that a cross offered to the Notre-Dame Cathedral in 1954 was among some of the pieces of history that survived a blaze that ravaged the church. Emmanuel Besnier, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of France in Ethiopia, confirmed on Twitter that the cross offered by His Imperial Highness Haile Selassie had since been moved to the Louvre Museum. “We can now confirm, with great relief, that the #Ethiopian cross offered to #NotreDame cathedral in 1954 by HIH Haile Selassie has been spared from this week’s fire and is now safe at the Le Louvre museum,” he wrote. We can now confirm, with great relief, that the #Ethiopian cross offered to #NotreDame cathedral in 1954 by HIH Haile Selassie has been spared from this week’s fire and is now safe at the MuseeLouvre museum. Notre-Dame was spared by the two world wars and barely escaped the flames a first time during the Commune: riots when rioters set fire to several benches, but the fire was contained.

Source: Ethiopian News April 18, 2019 14:48 UTC