European Heritage Days 2024. City, monument, work of art… our 3 favorites to discover this weekend

From up there, the view is such that you don’t know where to look. Towards the city, its winding streets and secret gardens seduce with their medieval charm. Or towards the outside, the Montagne Noire to the north and the Corbières to the south dominate the picturesque vineyard landscapes. In a bottleneck between the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, Carcassonne, built on a rocky spur, dominates the Aude valley. You can feel the breath of the wind and History, especially when you are perched on the ramparts where the centuries make your head spin. From these European Heritage Days 2024, visitors will be able to walk the entire rampart walk (1.3 km) surrounding the medieval city. A first in decades!

In order to restore this grand tour, the 300 m section of ramparts previously closed to the public was reinforced. Almost three years of work were necessary, something never seen since the restorations of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc started in 1852 and completed decades later. The Correa company set up on the scaffolding at the chevet of the ramparts, inspecting the condition of every joint. It was necessary to replace many stones which have the particularity of being all different from each other. “They are made of sandstone, so they take on a red, grey or yellow tint when in contact with the air”, explains Lionel Chabalier, project manager. The work scrupulously respected the existing and the construction methods of the past.

Two thousand years of history

With the naked eye, the attentive visitor can distinguish the layers of construction of this enclosure, almost two thousand years old, built under the Gallo-Romans, raised in the 13th century, following the crusade against the Albigensians. Falling into the orbit of the lords of the North and the king, the city then entered the service of the monarchy. “Carcassonne became the seat of a seneschal’s court which was the lock of the kingdom, recalls Amancio Requena, assistant administrator of the castle and ramparts. It became the centerpiece of the defense line of the southern border. The ancestor of the Maginot Line or Vauban’s iron belt.” All of these sentinel fortresses of the Cathar Country are also candidates for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2026. Already listed, the city of Carcassonne would thus be consecrated a second time. But visitors will not wait for this vote to vote for the famous ramparts and walk along them with pleasure.

When you go down to the chapter house of the Saint-Piat chapel, an outbuilding of the Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral (Eure-et-Loir), you think that the treasure lies in this setting of soft golden and blue light drawn by the abstract stained glass windows of the Korean artist Bang Hai Ja (1937-2022). But something else catches the eye, a surprise accessible to the public after seven years of restoration of the chapel built by the all-powerful canons of Chartres in 1324, and the closure of the treasure room in 2000. These are the paintings discovered under a whitewash representing the cathedral under construction: “We have found the oldest image of the building,” rejoices Irène Jourd’heuil, assistant curator of historical monuments for the Centre-Val de Loire region. She points out how the canons were showing off their position alongside the construction site: “We find traces of their conflict with the bishops over the management of the cathedral, a powerful Marian pilgrimage sanctuary.”

At eye level are displayed precious fragments of the old rood screen found buried in the cathedral floor in 1849. The finesse of the Gothic sculpture allows us to admire the scenes of the Nativity. Dedicated to the Virgin, the cathedral notably presents the relic of Mary’s veil. Above, in the chapel, the objects of worship, relics and reliquaries find their place in a modernized presentation. Predating the Revolution, the most precious (enamelled tabernacle, carved wooden altarpiece, royal armor, etc.) are displayed alongside the refined contemporary creations of the French sculptor and goldsmith Goudji.

In 2020, Thomas Gisbert, newly elected mayor of Bouin (Vendée) and passionate about art, became interested in the treasure of his church and sought to write a book on the subject. In the attic, he came across a large rolled-up canvas that seemed to date from the 17th century. Unfolded, it would reveal a Saint Peter repentant . In the sacristy, he examines more closely another painting “whose very fine canvas was typical of Venice at the end of the 16th century,” he says. It is a high-quality representation of an ecce homo, a Christ with outrages. With the help of the department’s curator of art objects, the two works are appraised, classified as Historic Monuments and their restoration financed. The Saint Peter repentant is then dated to the 17th or 18th century, based on a composition by the Dutch painter Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651).

For the ecce homo, it’s another matter! The laboratories put forward nothing less than the name of Tintoretto (1518-1594), master of the Italian Renaissance! More precisely, the analyses place the painting “in the circle of Jacopo Robusti, known as Tintoretto,” specifies Thomas Gisbert.

The mayor then continued his investigation, going to the United States to access old exhibition catalogues. He found a photograph of a painting by Tintoretto whose composition was very reminiscent of Bouin’s. “The X-ray showed us that this figure of Christ was originally included in a larger scene.” How did the painting arrive from Italy to Vendée? “We had a brilliant priest in the 19th century who is known for having travelled and restored our church,” says the mayor. “I suspect him all the more of having brought back this work since its frame dates from 1870 or 1890. This is the most likely hypothesis.” The two restored paintings will be presented to the public during the European Heritage Days in the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church in Bouin, alongside the three beautiful altarpieces it already houses.