Living in the Languedoc: Famous Personalities: Viollet-le-Duc
  Eugene
Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was a French architect, famous for
his restorations of medieval buildings. Born in Paris, 27th
January 1814; Died in Lausanne Switzerland, (1879)
After centuries
of neglect, a movement for the restoration of medieval buildings appeared in France
in the 1830's. Viollet-le-Duc was interested in medieval architecture, and on
his return from a study trip to Italy, was asked by Prosper Merimée to restore
the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay in the Yonne département. This restoration marked
the beginning of a long series of similar work. Among his restorations are:
Churches: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vezelay. Notre-Dame de
Paris. la Basilique de Saint-Denis, near Paris. Saint-Louis,
Poissy in the Yvelines département. Saint-Sernin, Toulouse.
Saint-Nazaire,
Carcassonne . Castles:
Pierrefonds. Château de Coucy. Carcassonne.
Town Halls: Saint-Antonin. Narbonne.
Viollet-le-Duc applied the techniques of Gothic architecture,
especially what he conceived of its structural systems, to modern building materials
such as cast iron. He favoured archaeologically precise restoration, yet his own
designs were innovative. The famous Catalan Antoni Gaudí was heavily influenced
by Viollet le Duc's work, including his rational approach to architecture and
appreciation of the Gothic achievement. Some of Viollet-le-Duc's
restorations, notably that of the castle of Pierrefonds, were controversial because
they did not aim at accurately recreating a historical structures as much as at
creating a idealised representations of medieval style. He has also been criticised
for some of his work at Carcassonne, particularly the conical roofs which were
later shown to be historically inaccurate. But it is a mean spirit indeed that
does not recognise his magnificent achievement. The
Languedoc, France, Europe and the world would all have been architecturally poorer
without Viollet-le-Duc. |
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