Firefighters declared success on Tuesday morning in an over 12-hour battle to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof, but spared its bell towers.

Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of the restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure, but that news has done nothing to ease the national mourning. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral that he called "a part of us" and appealed for help to do so.