It was so sad to see Notre Dame Cathedral burn. We visited it several times. There are magnificent churches in Cologne, Germany, Reims and Chartres, France. There is a picture to the Cologne cathedral in the photo forum.
While it might have been seen as excessive to have spent so much treasure on these monuments, they have provided a lot of enjoyment to those of us around several centuries later. Same goes for Versialles and the Vatican.
A deviation from Ranch Talk, but food for thought.
CP