France’s Axa Insured Notre Dame Art, Two Construction Firms
- Fire isn’t expected to be major event for insurance companies
- Repairs are likely ‘complicated,’ insurer of churches says
A painting inside Notre Dame in Paris on April 16, 2019.
Photographer: Amaury Blin/AFP via Getty Images
French insurer Axa SA could be on the hook for potential payouts tied to the devastating fire that ripped through Notre-Dame Cathedral, but the government’s ownership of the landmark means the insurance industry could be spared from significant losses tied to the blaze.
Axa provided some coverage to two of the companies working on construction projects at the cathedral in Paris, Europe Echafaudage and Le Bras Freres, and its art group was involved in the insurance of certain artifacts and ceremonial objects in the cathedral, a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. The structure itself, which is classified as a historical monument, is self-insured by the state, not by Axa, she said.