Fire Destroys 17th-Century Organ at French Cathedral in Nantes

NANTES, France—French officials launched an arson inquiry Saturday after a fire broke out in the famed Gothic cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of the western French city of Nantes. The blaze destroyed the organ, shattered stained glass windows and sent black smoke spewing from between the cathedral towers.

Residents and tourists watched aghast, and emergency workers cordoned off the area around the monument, in the historical center of this city on the Loire River.

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