Paris fire ravages historic Polish residence
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
10.07.2013 12:34
A fire ravaged the Hotel Lambert, a historic Polish residence in Paris, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Hotel Lambert. Screenshot: MYTF1News
Some 170 fire-fighters battled with the blaze at the UNESCO-listed mansion, which was in the process of being renovated.
The mansion, where Chopin was a regular guest, served as the headquarters for Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, who fled Tsarist Poland after the doomed November Uprising of 1830 against Russian rule.
The Hotel Lambert, which became his family's residence, functioned as a kind of unofficial embassy for the then non-existent Poland, with the Czartoryskis attempting to curry favour with those sympathetic to the cause of Polish independence.
The Czartoryski family ultimately sold the property in 1978 to a branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty. The Rothschilds in turn sold the mansion to Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar.
At present, the extent of the damage and the cause of the fire remain unclear. One fireman is understood to have been injured in the blaze. (nh)
Source: IAR