Historic Paris concert hall in flames
Fire broke out at Paris’s historic Elysée Montmartre concert hall on Tuesday morning. Up to 100 firefighters from about a dozen fire stations were mobilised to battle the blaze.
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Early reports indicated that there were no victims due to the fire beginning at 7:45 am, before the start of working hours at the famous nightspot.
The blaze began in the offices on the second floor and does not seem to have reached the auditorium.
The concert hall, which can hold 1,200 people, is part of Paris history and has been classified a historic monument since 1988.
It was built in 1807 at the foot of the Montmartre area – once a home to poets and artists, now a major tourist attraction – using an iron framework designed by Gustave Eiffel.
Emile Zola describes it in his novel l’Assommoir and it features in several of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec paintings.
Musicians, including France’s Jacques Higelin and the US’s Patti Smith, have performed there. It now hosts reggae, rock and other concerts, as well as the fortnightly Bal de l’Elysée Montmartre.
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