Restoring Viollet-le-Duc. Notes from the fire at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. A pretext for talking about methods and criteria

Abstract

This text presents notes about the necessary restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, due to the large fire that hit the building in April 2019. The tragedy that has befallen this important cultural heritage sparks an intense debate about what the paths for its recovery would be, with the possibility of a dov’era, com’era reconstruction and other postures more consistent with more recent theoretical-methodological orientations about restoration, indicated in international conventions and recommendations. When Viollet-le-Duc, together with Lassus, restored this same Cathedral in the second half of the 19th century, the debates were no less intense. And now it is up to the 21st century restorer to intervene on the work of Viollet-le-Duc. What principles to adopt? This article aims, based on notes on Viollet-le-Duc and the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris, to problematize the conceptual and methodological issues on the agenda in this 21st century in interventions on built heritage.