THE “iconic and unique” library at Glasgow School of Art has been lost in the fire which swept through the world-renowned building on Friday.

But the art school “has most certainly gained a new gallery of heroes,” chairwoman Muriel Gray said yesterday as she praised the firefighters who tackled the blaze.

“The most amazing — almost miraculous — news is that the majority of the building is still intact,” she said.

“Due to one of the most astonishingly intelligent and professional pieces of strategy by the fire services, they succeeded in protecting the vast majority of the building, apparently by forming a human wall of firefighters up the west end of the main staircase and containing the fire.

“The joy that our archives are safe combines with the delight in seeing most of our beloved building bruised and battered but most certainly not destroyed.”

Ms Gray said some students had lost some or all of their work but many others had theirs preserved. 

Staff will be able to enter the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building to assess what can be salvaged in the next few days.

Both Scottish and Westminster governments have pledged to help fund restoration work.