Fire Burns at Two Christian Landmarks: Temple Mount in Flames at the Same Time as Notre Dame Fire

Fire Burns at Two Christian Landmarks: Temple Mount in Flames at the Same Time as Notre Dame Fire

As a massive fire was ripping through the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, a significantly smaller fire stared in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

According to Newsweek, a small fire broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – famously known as the home of the Temple Mount – on Monday evening in the Marwani Prayer Room, also known as Solomon’s Stables.

Video footage of the fire posted to social media shows clouds of smoke ascending from the roof of the prayer room. According to reports, the fire at the Al-Aqsa Mosque broke out around the same time as the massive fire at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral.

طواقم الإطفاء تخمد حريقاً اندلع على سطح المصلى المرواني في المسجد الأقصى. pic.twitter.com/CVx8X7nx4N

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) April 15, 2019

Reportedly, a guard told the Palestinian National Authority news outlet that the “fire broke out in the guard’s room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully.”

According to the Daily Mail, the room where the fire occurred is under the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount – the third holiest site in Christianity. 

No injuries or damage have been reported at this time and there has been no evidence linking the blazes at the two landmarks of Christianity. 

Newsweek reports that the director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, told Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka TV that the fire first broke out in the courtyard of the mosque and was successfully contained. Al-Khatib also shared that the cause of the fire is not yet known, but it is believed to have been started by children “tampering in the area.”

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Chris McGrath/Staff