--- title: Photo of Man and Child Before Notre Dame Fire Goes Viral description: The image has jolted thousands of people's attention on a fleeting moment of joy before the destructive blaze. canonical: https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-16T13:23:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:39.436Z og:title: Joyful Photo of a Pair at Notre-Dame Before the Fire Goes Viral og:description: The happy photo has captured the attention of thousands of people og:url: https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa579c5fb8f0dd3/6989486d16d884023fc34f01/notredameviralphoto.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Paris Assesses Damage Following Notre Dame Blaze og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joyful Photo of a Pair at Notre-Dame Before the Fire Goes Viral twitter:description: The happy photo has captured the attention of thousands of people twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa579c5fb8f0dd3/6989486d16d884023fc34f01/notredameviralphoto.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joyful Moment Captured at Notre-Dame Before the Devastating Fire Goes Viral by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Apr 16, 2019 1:23 PM UTC  The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is seen the day after the massive fire that ravaged its roof on April 16, 2019 in Paris, France. A fire broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly spread across the building, collapsing the spire. The cause is unknown but officials said it was possibly linked to ongoing renovation work. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is seen the day after the massive fire that ravaged its roof on April 16, 2019 in Paris, France. A fire broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly spread across the building, collapsing the spire. The cause is unknown but officials said it was possibly linked to ongoing renovation work. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)Chesnot/Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Apr 16, 2019 1:23 PM UTC A search to find the man and child captured in an infectiously joyful photo in front of Notre Dame Cathedral before the [destructive fire](http://time.com/5570897/paris-notre-dame-cathedral-fire/) has gone [viral on social media](http://time.com/longform/notre-dame-fire/). The [picture](http://time.com/5571365/notre-dame-before-after-fire/) shows the man twirling the young girl around in front of the world-famous landmark. They’re all smiles, and 23-year-old tourist from Michigan, Brooke Windsor, who snapped the shot says she captured the scene just moments before the storied cathedral became engulfed in flames. The duo appears to be thrilled, a sentiment no doubt shared by countless visitors every day over the years. > [](https://twitter.com/brookeawindsor/status/1117940714715930624) “Twitter if you have any magic, help him find this,” she wrote in a Monday night tweet that has garnered 207,300 likes as of Tuesday morning. The observant visitor later wrote that the photo at 5:57 at night in Paris, and she doesn’t know the pair’s relationship, but is keen to track them down. The sunny image captured a fleeting pocket of joy before the blaze caused extensive damage before it was extinguished. The flames collapsed the spire of the iconic 850-year-old landmark. It would soon become a solemn scene where thousands, and some knelt to sing “Ave Maria.” > [](https://twitter.com/Inaki%5FGil/status/1117868382785802242) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/"},"headline":"Joyful Moment Captured at Notre-Dame Before the Devastating Fire Goes Viral","datePublished":"2019-04-16T13:23:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:58:39.436Z","description":"The image has jolted thousands of people's attention on a fleeting moment of joy before the destructive blaze.","url":"https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa579c5fb8f0dd3/6989486d16d884023fc34f01/notredameviralphoto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa579c5fb8f0dd3/6989486d16d884023fc34f01/notredameviralphoto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paris Assesses Damage Following Notre Dame Blaze","caption":"Paris Assesses Damage Following Notre Dame Blaze","creditText":"Chesnot/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5571517/notre-dame-viral-photo/","name":"Joyful Moment Captured at Notre-Dame Before the Devastating Fire Goes Viral"}}]}] ```