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2019 fire.  Wikipedia photo:  LeLaisserPasserA38 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Construction of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, which is burning today, began in 1160 and was largely completed in 1260.  It was wired for sound in about 1925, as shown in the illustrations above.  At left, a microphone is visible above the pulpit.  At right, a speaker is mounted on a pillar near the chancel.  One of the cathedral’s distinctive rose windows is visible in the background.  The pictures appeared in the July 1925 issue of Radio News, which reported that the then-700-year-old cathedral had finally been modernized.  According to the magazine, the speakers were installed “so that the congregation may hear the services.”

Another picture, shown below, is also of Notre Dame, but is not immediately recognizable as such.  From the 1918 issue of Electrical Experimenter, the picture shows air raid sirens installed atop one of the towers.  For an look at a 1914 air raid on Paris, see our earlier post.