Viollet-le-Duc’s Le Viollet-le-Duc’s Le Stryge", nicknamed The Vampire by Parisians, appears to be observing the city of Paris below © Wazim PhotosNotre-Dame ~ reborn…Viollet-le-Duc, an architect for all agesThe great gothic Cathedral of NotreDame with its famous gargoylesand incredible stained glass rosewindows, towers and delicate spire isa symbol of Paris’s enduring identity– it’s also a cultural monument that’streasured globally.The world watched in awe as the greatGothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Parisreopened in December 2024 after five yearsof renovation following a fire which almostdestroyed the “heart and soul” of Paris. But itEugène Viollet-le-Duc, viaWikimedia Commonswasn’t the first time the Cathedral underwenta rebirth. Sue Aran and Janine Marsh look atthe life of Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc,the architect who restored Notre-Dame in the19th century and the cathedral’s latest rebirth.Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was a designer,architectural historian, theorist and painter,famous for his enthusiastically creativerestorations of not only iconic Parisianmonuments, but monuments all over Franceand even in bordering countries. Beforehim, there were no gargoyles pondering thedepth and breadth of the Seine from the roofof the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, nor wasCarcassonne, the fortified medieval hilltopCité in the Languedoc region of southernFrance, so breathtakingly majestic. If not forhis incomparable vision, what we consider tobe some of the most interesting and beautifulDrawing of the spire of Notre-Dame by Viollet-le-Duc, via Wikimedia Commonsplaces worth seeing, would have been lost toneglect, vandalism and time.Born in Paris in January 1814, Viollet-le-Duc’s early years were influenced by hishome life. His parents were well-connectedart connoisseurs. His father was curator ofKing Louis-Philippe’s royal residences whilehis mother, Eugènie, hosted a famous Fridaynight salon attended by the likes of Stendhaland literary critic Sainte-Beuve. His uncle,the painter and scholar Etienne Delécluze,was entrusted with his early education. Bythe time Viollet-le-Duc was in his teens, hewas rebellious, philosophically liberal, andartistically inclined. His formative years wereinfluenced by people who wrote and talkedabout art and architecture, and who built orpreserved important buildings in Paris.From an early age Viollet-le-Duc exhibiteda talent for drawing, and at 16 he graduatedfrom the Collège de Bourbon and becamean architect. Favoring practical experience,he traveled extensively in Italy where he wasable to see first-hand the Roman remainsand Renaissance churches and palaces inRome, Florence and Venice. And in France8 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 9
