The Restoration of Cut Stone Architecture in the Theory and Practice of the Compagnonnage du Devoir: Case study of the reconstruction of the tympanum of the Church of St Gervais and St Protais in Paris

This paper deals with the restoration of cut-stone architecture from the perspective of the architect’s craft. Such a perspective considers the monument not just as an historical and cultural testimony, but above all as a construction which must inevitably undergo maintenance, integration and rebuilding if it is to survive the ravages of time and use. In contrast to the ideological approach represented by various schools of restoration, based on the “false” problem of safeguarding authenticity and not on a real knowledge of traditional building techniques, this paper takes the historical experience of the Compagnonnage du Devoir – rooted in the construction and maintenance of gothic cathedrals - as a possible paradigm for the revision of contemporary theories and methodologies. The treatment of this subject is developed by addressing the following topics: 1. The construction features of cut-stone architecture and its restoration (the fact that cut-stone architecture is easy to dismantle and reassemble since it is composed of discrete pieces). 2. The theory and practice of restoration in the Compagnonnage du Devoir and the concept of “replica” (an in-depth knowledge of traditional building techniques and the ability to replicate a building process, updating it over time in the light of new technologies). 3. A case study: the restoration of the stone tympanum on the main façade of the church of St Gervais and St Protais in Paris, carried out in 2002. This restoration is exemplary not just from a conceptual point of view – the substitution of an architectonic element of what is considered the first classical–renaissance façade in Paris – but also from a technical-constructional point of view, because of the implementation of advanced CAM-CAD technologies in the whole restoration process.