Show caption Bees fly in 2017 next to beehives set up on the roof the Monnaie de Paris, with Notre Dame in the background. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame ‘It’s a miracle’: hundreds of thousands of bees survive Notre Dame fire Three hives containing more than 180,000 bees in total were found intact on the cathedral’s roof despite the devastating blaze Lauren Aratani Fri 19 Apr 2019 22.05 BST Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share via Email 1 year old

Following the tragedy of Monday’s fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, news came on Friday of a miracle as sweet as honey.

The hundreds of thousands of bees that lived in hives inside Notre Dame’s roof are alive and well, according to the beekeeper, or apiculteur, that oversees them.

“Thank goodness the flames didn’t touch them,” Nicolas Géant, the hives’ 51-year-old beekeeper, told CNN. “It’s a miracle.”

Three hives that are home to an estimated 60,000 bees each – 180,000 bees in total – are located on a lower roof atop the cathedral’s first floor.

The flames of Monday’s fire – which investigators say was probably caused by an electrical short circuit – took down the cathedral’s spire and a large portion of its roof.

For a few days after the fire, Géant was worried about his beloved bees, and the French police and firefighters wouldn’t let him go up on the roof to check on them. Hopes that the bees survived rested on aerial photos of the cathedral’s roof, which showed the hives still intact.

“You see that everything is burnt, there are holes in the roof, but you can still see the three beehives,” Géant told NBC News on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the French urban beekeeping company Beeopic Apiculture posted a picture on Instagram that confirmed the Notre Dame bees were OK.

“Our bees from the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris are still alive!! Confirmation from site officials!! ❤🐝❤” read the post’s caption.

The bees probably survived because the hives are located about 30 meters away from the main roof where the fire spread, Géant told CNN.

Beekeeping on rooftops is one of Paris’s best kept secrets. Besides Notre Dame, hives are also kept atop the roofs of other notable structures, such as the Opéra Garnier, Musée d’Orsay and Grand Palais. More than 700 hives are kept across the city, one beekeeper told Atlas Obscura in August.

Though the fire at Notre Dame brought destruction to one of Paris’s beloved landmarks, Géant said he was “overjoyed” to hear that his bees were still alive.