The reconstruction of the spire of the basilica of Saint-Denis will commence in 2022, but there are already banging the mallet of the stone cutter. Until October, the artisans have the know-how of a site where, unlike at Notre Dame, the long time is. “When it comes to this business, the notion of time is not the same. It should not want to finish before it has begun,” says Mathieu Bonnemaison, blacksmith 34-year-old.
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In the framework of participatory workshops, inaugurated on Friday, he comes to explain for an hour his craft to a dozen visitors, two of the imposing basilica of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), in which the arrow is waiting to be rebuilt since the mid-Nineteenth century. “Today, it is a privilege to be able to work as is being done here and to be able to share what we do to different audiences”, said to AFP this passionate of know-how medieval, for which transmit is at the heart of the vocation.
A blacksmith working at the restitution of the tools to the size of the stone in the medieval tradition. ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Take the time, to present the necessary techniques, to include the inhabitants: the method advocated in Saint-Denis slice through the reconstruction at a desired load to the cathedral that burned down Our Lady, that the president Macron wants to see restored in five years. “Here, the goal is to make a project that will radiate throughout the city,” “what the workers could tell their profession, their history,” stresses Frédéric Keiff, architect of the project.
Expected to last ten years, the construction site of reconstruction of the spire of the north tower, in the amount of 25 million euros, will begin in 2022 and will use methods of the stone size of the end of the Twelfth century. The tools will be manufactured by blacksmiths of the site and the stones will be laid manually using a mortar produced in part on site. This arrow, high of 90 meters, had dominated the north-east of paris for more than seven centuries before being dismantled in the mid-Nineteenth century, stone by stone, due to a hurricane.
the effect of inserting
Since Friday, the his tools on the stone resonates in the space dedicated to demonstrations, a few meters from the building, famous for being home to the necropolis of the kings of France. “Ah yes, it is true that it is more beautiful,” says Heloise, 9 years old. A wide smile blossomed on his face. Helped by a stone mason professional, it comes to burn the initial of his first name on a piece of rock. “She loves it. She does not want me to leave the place,” says his mother, Hajdar Lahna, mask of rigor in this department particularly affected by the epidemic of sars coronavirus.
The basilica in its current state, and a digital reconstruction of the made with the north arrow AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT, 3D : WNS-STUDIO
With his chisel and his mallet, Grant Makingson, a stone-cutter for the past 25 years, advances towards another group of visitors and help them to make the right moves. This inhabitant of Saint-Denis welcomes “create vocations” and “change the face” of his city. Because this masterpiece of gothic architecture, is also a “consubstantial element” to the inhabitants, according to its mayor, Laurent Russier. “The whole point of this project is to make it a participatory project,” according to the municipal official communist. “The important thing is not only to rebuild the arrow in the same way, that is how this project is going to be a true insert effect and how the basilica will continue to take shape with its inhabitants”, he says.
“Big sister” and “inspiration of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in the Thirteenth century according to Saadia Tamelikecht, the curator of the basilica, the history will repeat it in the Twenty-first century? Benjamin Masure, project coordinator, hope at least that the two projects will “work together”. “To Our Lady, we know that they are going to have to re-cut the stone. Why not be their training centre for stone masons ?”, if he asked. The participatory workshops, launched Friday, are accessible by cycle ten people maximum. Only on reservation on exploreparis.com with 42 dates scheduled until October 22.
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