Paru le 01/06/1995 | Relié sous jaquette 191 pages
Tout public
photographies François Poche | traduit par du français par Ronald Corlette-Theuil
The dome of the invalides
A restored masterwork
An architectural marvel from the age of Louis XIV, the dome of the Invalides shines like a crown after a restoration campaign that stands as a model of excellence. Directed by a gifted architect, the worksite brought together the cream of skilled workers and specialized firms. The techniques and feats of the restorers of our time - monitored daily by an enthusiastic photographer - appear in the exceptional imagery of this book.
The dome of the Invalides - one of the splendours built by the Sun King - has ennobled the skyline of Paris since the late 17th century. In its day, its construction was a technical feat on a par with the wizardy of the great Gothic cathedrals.
But time threatens the most lasting works, and the dome of the Invalides had to be restored under Napoléon, Louis XVIII, Louis-Napoléon and, in 1937, for the Universal Exposition. Since then its gilding had worn away, leaving only grey lead roof-sheeting visible.
A five-year restoration campaign has just come to a close and once again the dome gleams with burnished gold. The stonework of the façades and the murals by Charles de La Fosse and Jean Jouvenet have also been restored.
The Dome of the Invalides - A Restored Masterwork, with photographs by François Poche and text by Historic Monuments architect-in-chief Jean-Claude Rochette, who directed restoration, salutes the men and women by whose work the monuments of our heritage live on.
François Poche
Photographer François Poche has worked world-wide in the past twenty years, in Mexico, Brazil, California, Thailand and Canada. He is co-author with Louis Caron of Montréal, un parfum d'îles. On his return to France in 1989 he was commissioned by the National Works Service to do photo reports on various historic monument restorations in and around Paris : the Val-de-Grâce chapel, the façades of the École militaire, the roofs of the Comédie-Française and the Panthéon, and the gardens of the Versailles and Fontainebleau châteaux. He also photographed the restoration of Notre-Dame for the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs. In collaboration with Jean-Claude Rochette, head of works at the Invalides, he spent five years reporting on the successive restoration campaigns of the domed church.
Jean-Claude Rochette
Historic Monuments architect-in-chief since 1964, Jean-Claude Rochette has supervised the reconversion of the château d'Écouen - now the Musée de la Renaissance -, the Musée du Prieuré-Maurice Denis at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and the Musée Lambinet at Versailles. Commissioned by the ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has worked on French embassies at the Palacio d'Abrantes in Lisbon and the Institut français in Naples since 1972, the Niels Juel Palace in Copenhagen since 1977, and the palazzo Farnese in Rome since 1978. Other restorations by his hand are the privately-owned château of Marais in the Essonne departement, Breteuil, les Mesnuls and Jouars-Pontchartrain in the Yvelines departement, and Guermantes in the Seine-et-Marne. In 1979 he took part in the competition for re-designing the Orsay station. He has also worked as a consultant for the Unesco in Tunisia and Saint-Martin.
