Meditate with François-Étienne Villeret (1798-1852)

The story of a cathedral resembles that of an endless rise. This is evidenced by the recent restoration of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral; But also the current operation to raise the arrow of the cathedral of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). As if these great Gothic bodys of stone and glass were to testify to the mystery of death and resurrection celebrated there every day.

The work of the Parisian painter and watercolorist François Villeret also tells it: passionate about architecture, the man pays homage to the old building of the cathedral of Rouen. If the facade is a majestic stone lace, on the side, ugly scaffolding hide gaming wounds to treat. The most blatant is the amputated rear tower of its arrow. Because ten years earlier, on September 15, 1822, the 16th century arrow, all in wood and covered with golden lead, was struck in the early morning by lightning. In less than two hours, the fire that followed made the one nicknamed with admiration “the needle” disappear. If the raising work started in 1825, they will only end … sixty years later, in 1884.

What offer a long spectacle of desolation and astonishment to Rouennais which, at the market or in the surrounding alleys comment on the human, economic and technical adventures of this work. But perseverance will pay: the new arrow will finally rise high in the sky, at 151 m, as if to ward off the spell. To the point of becoming the highest building in the world in its time. A renaissance. Better: a resurrection.