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Statues, ironwork, lime, framework: the Dordogne in the lead
Bet held. It took five years for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris to be completed. A feat in which several Périgord companies largely participated. In this department richly endowed with historic, classified or remarkable sites, a sector of excellence has been able to develop. The Heritage Foundation, which supports some 3,000 projects per year in France, was also able, via its departmental delegation, to provide advice and expertise in addition to financial assistance.
Economy in Dordogne: these companies which restore heritage
“Sud Ouest” has chosen to highlight heritage restorers. In a department richly endowed with historic, classified or remarkable sites, a sector of excellence has been able to develop. It extends well beyond the borders of the Dordogne, for example on the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site. Overview
No one has forgotten the arrival at Socra, the famous company from Marsac-sur-l’Isle, three days before the tragedy, of the 16 statues adorning the spire, which were to be restored there.
We also remember the rescue of the rooster which topped it and which was found 90 meters further down in the rubble. He too was treated at Socra.
But other Dordogne companies intervened directly or indirectly during these five years, revealing their excellent know-how. Starting with the blacksmithing workshop in Hautefort (AOF). Renowned for its know-how in ironwork, the AOF is committed to ensuring both the rehabilitation of the guardrails erected inside the building and the restoration of the gates which stand outside the flagship of the Île de la Cité.
There is also Pro Tech Lightning in Saint-Michel-de-Double. Specializing in “aesthetic” lightning rods for historic monuments, the company was tasked in 2011 with bringing the lightning protection system at Notre-Dame de Paris up to standard. If it resisted the fire, Pro Tech Foudre rebuilt certain elements of this system, and its boss, Anthony Dupuy, also intervened at the lightning rod of the spire, at 106 meters high, with his rope access equipment .
The Delord Sawmill, in Tocane-Saint-Aprefor its part, cut the main beams from the oak for the bell tower.
Finally, let us cite the Lime from Saint-Astier. For more than a century, the company has been extracting minerals from the limestone subsoil of the Dordogne which are used to renovate the greatest jewels of heritage. This producer of natural hydraulic lime, used in heritage preservation, brought its expertise to the restoration of Notre-Dame.
The oaks of Charente
A thousand centuries-old oak trees were needed to identically reconstruct the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, destroyed by the fire. Taking into account the needs, these trees had to have diameters of 50 to 110 cm, which more or less corresponds to trees 80 to 150 years old, or even up to 200 years old for the largest.
The Charentais Mécénat Hennessy offered 36 to the public establishment Rebâtir Notre-Dame de Paris, project manager of the cathedral restoration project. These century-old trees were taken from the forest that the cognac merchant owns in Allier. They will be used to reconstruct the spire and frames lost in the fire.
Gifts from the private forestry group Forey for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, five other oaks were also felled in the Charente forest of Horte, with the help of the Joslet sawmill in Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure.
Financial support from Charente-Maritime
Like many local authorities, Royan participated in the national collection with a view to rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris. In April 2019, Mayor Patrick Marengo announced that the financial effort for the old Parisian lady would be one euro per inhabitant, or a little less than 20,000 euros.
The Charente-Maritime Departmental Council will also participate in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris, to the tune of 50,000 euros.
Corrèze for the great organ
Spared by the fire but covered in soot and lead dust, the pipes of the cathedral's great organ were completely renovated, thanks to the meticulous work of craftsmen from the Cattiaux-Chevron workshop in Liourdres, in Corrèze, specialists in the restoration of organs, proud to contribute to the renewal of Notre-Dame. The pipes reached the capital in April 2023 to be reassembled.
In the Landes, 1,500 chairs and a journeyman carpenter
French designer Ionna Vautrin, 43, was selected to design the 1,500 chairs with bars in solid oak wood, used by the twelve million annual visitors to the cathedral. And it was a family business from Hagetmau, Sièges Bastiat, which was chosen to manufacture them. This exceptional market has mobilized 16 employees since June 2023.
The last chairs took shape in the Chalois workshops, before their departure for the cathedral from November 19. After the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris on December 7, the manufacturing of the rest of the furniture will continue in Hagetmau until February 2025.
In November 2023, the oaks felled a year earlier became the pieces of the immense framework of Notre-Dame de Paris that Landais Marc Peyres, 56, and his team are finishing installing. The nickname of this Companion carpenter of Tour de France duties, originally from Saint-Pandelon: “Landais goes with good heart”. Even more so when it comes to the cathedral…
Dry cleaning, rope repairers, roofing expertise, 3D and century-old oaks in Gironde
Created by Karine Da Silva in 2017, in Bassens in the suburbs of Bordeaux, the Georges laundry specializes in the care of work clothes. It was she who was chosen by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) of Île-de-France, for cleaning the “leaded” outfits of all those involved in the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site.
The rope access technicians from the Adrénaline company in Pessac, specialists in spectacular high-rise projects, worked on Notre Dame de Paris after the fire.
Certain companions from the Belgian branch of the Technical Building Union (UTB), to which the project of restoring, identically, the roof of the Bordeaux Saint-Jean station was entrusted, also intervened on the cathedral.
Archeovision, a platform attached to the Archéosciences Bordeaux research laboratory, specializing in the field of 3D applied to cultural heritage, is involved in the vast reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Another contribution from the Gironde, three of the barely centuries-old oaks of forester Françoise de Villeneuve were felled on her forest plot in Cabanac-et-Villagrains, to be used in the reconstruction of the cathedral. One or two others will be shot in Blasimon.
The cranes of Lot-et-Garonne and its stone cutting experts
The Agen-based company Dartus Levage, managed by Christophe and Victor Dartus, father and son, won a call for tenders concerning lifting equipment for “the construction site of the century. » Visible on the Île de la Cité from winter 2022, the immense Dartus cranes have lifted stones, pieces of framework and stained glass windows.
The Agen company was also to participate in one of the high points of the project: the identical reconstruction of the spire of Viollet-le-Duc with the installation at its summit, located at a height of 96 meters, of its cross, in December 2023.
