Napoleon’s coronation mantle under the needle of the restorers
In the Galli Heritage workshop, in Montreuil, in the Paris region, a panel of red velvet enhanced with heavy gold embroidery catches the eye. “This is an altar front made from the coronation mantle of Napoleon I, which he wore on December 2, 1804 in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.” explains Marie-Hélène Didier, curator of historical monuments at the Regional Directorate of Culture, in charge of the restoration of works from the Notre-Dame Treasure belonging to the State. Here she holds a site meeting to assess the progress of the work, with the founder of the workshop, the restorer Martina Galli specializing in old textiles.
In just two months of work, several screeds, chasubles and other old bolsters must be ready to reintegrate the windows of the Treasury, in the sacristies and the cloister of the cathedral. To respond to this very urgent call for tenders, she recruited several colleagues from her country of origin: “Italy has around ten training courses in this field, much more than France,” she explains. .
This is how she was joined in particular by Professor Patrizia Labianca, from the University of Florence. Using a curved surgical needle, she dexterously passes a fine silk thread sheathed in metal around the edges of the Napoleonic embroidery: “It is a pleasure and an honor to work on the Treasure of Notre-Dame. And I find it moving to restore a textile that we know very well thanks to the famous painting by the painter David,” smiles the specialist who suspended her own work in Italy to participate. “This velvet is very fragile, worn by time,” explains Martine Galli: “you have to stop the fraying of the embroidery, consolidate the corners, invisibly sew up the tears.”
Around the two women, shimmering liturgical vestments await their turn, while a chasuble is sealed for three weeks under vacuum, in order to rid it of moths! Before its restoration, it will also be necessary, as for the others, to carry out a light cleaning “with an eraser” of the encrusted dust, and to lighten the oxidation of the gold or silver embroidery to restore their shine. As soon as the cathedral reopens on December 8, all these precious textiles will once again be visible to the public.