VANDALISM IN THE LAND OF PATRIMOINE
THE WRECKING OF CIRIANI’S MUSEE DE L’ARLES ANTIQUE
THE WRECKING OF CIRIANI’S MUSEE DE L’ARLES ANTIQUE
Copyright: William J. R.
Curtis, April 2012
Architectural Review, April-May 2012 , 'OUTRAGE' SECTION
The Ministry of Culture in France makes a big deal out of the
notion of ‘patrimoine’. The word implies a collective heritage handed on from
generation to generation and applies to many other things than just
architecture. It is a concept which has vaguely political overtones to do with
the very idea of a republic – res publica,
the public thing – and it implies the role of the state in the protection of
objects, sites and places considered to be in the general interest of society in
the long term (‘ biens publics’). Of course many of these sites and buildings
are’ inherited’ forcibly from previous aristocratic, royal and religious
properties: châteaux, monasteries, churches, gardens, palaces. In recent years
the concept of ‘patrimony’ has been extended internationally under the aegis of
UNESCO to apply to a more universal framework: the patrimony of humanity. This now includes sites of great
natural beauty all over the world and even, bizarrely, ‘the Gastronomic Meal of
the French’ (whatever that is!!).This last one is quite hilarious especially at
a time when more and more French people are in reality indulging in ‘le fast
food’.
The architectural patrimony of France requires
a massive upkeep, and the sums of money which the state invests in restoration
and maintenance are impressive. Beyond a duty to the past there is no doubt a
strong appreciation of the income derived from tourism and from the
attractiveness of a country combining great natural beauty with an overall
commitment to ‘la culture’. By comparison Britain is grubby and money grabbing:
what a horrendous experience it is to try to visit Westminster Abbey or St
Paul’s and be presented with tickets which for an entire family may lead to a
total of more than fifty pounds. Roughly a decade ago I went back to the
cathedral of my childhood, Canterbury ,
and in addition to being harassed for money at the entrance, was confronted
inside by an official panel stating that Christianity more and more resembles
running a business!! The privatisation of public space and the reduction of the
sacred to mercantilism go hand in hand in declining Britain . It is time to chase the
moneylenders from the temple. The state, instead of wasting lives and millions
on aimless wars, should look after the family silver.
In France
the architectural patrimony is overseen in part by the Monuments Historiques
and their related architects, craftsmen and consultants including art
historians and scientists. Among these custodians of the past are the
Compagnons who are trained in traditional skills of masonry, carpentry and
handicraft. The restoration record is largely positive where old,
pre-industrial buildings such as châteaux and cathedrals are concerned but it
is less glorious when it comes to twentieth century buildings made out of
concrete and steel. There is nowhere near the same scholarly rigour and level
of expertise. The Monastery of La Tourette by Le Corbusier is a case in point.
It has been under restoration for four years and there have been grave errors,
especially in the ‘musical glazed panels’ or ‘ondulatoires’ originally designed
with the input of Xenakis, the engineer and avant-garde musician. The subtle rhythms between the concrete struts
(laid out according to the Modulor) have been badly disturbed by replacing
slender brass fillets with gross aluminium and plastic pieces which utterly
destroy the magic of the original glazed membranes. It is as if one were to
change the thickness of the black lines in a Mondrian or the notes in a Bach
fugue. I raised the roof about this in a letter with the title ‘Tutta Quella
Musica’ (a reference to Leon Battista Alberti and divine proportions) and the
work was stopped while inspections were made. Matters were improved somewhat in
similar windows in the inner court. But the west façade has been sacked and
will have to be redone.
Where the smallest Romanesque chapel in the middle of
the Massif Central is concerned, the Ministry
of Culture, its Direction de l’Architecture and the Monuments Historiques are
vigilant concerning the possible intrusiveness of nearby construction. But they
are much less so where twentieth century masterpieces are concerned. This was
well demonstrated with the case of Le Corbusier’s Chapel at Ronchamp and the
problematic project by Renzo Piano for a convent and entrance pavilion nearby.
Piano’s original scheme was obviously far too close to the Chapel and in
conflict with it in form and scale, but it was only after much pressure was
exerted that the scheme was moved slightly further away (not enough). But the
Ministry of Culture was not on the side of the angels in this dispute and
turned a blind eye, or maybe has eyes which do not see? My own approach to this
problem was to avoid the petitions for and against (which were largely caricatural),
to publish a balanced piece in the Architectural Review (October 2008) and to
write directly to the architects requesting politely that they quieten down
their jagged roof forms and make the buildings as invisible as possible. Only
now with the landscaping going in can one properly assess the result (the
subject of a future critical article in AR).
The Musée de l’Arles Antique was designed by Henri
Ciriani thirty years ago to house Roman statues, mosaics and archeological
fragments, and to serve as an introduction to the rich ancient history of the
region. Ciriani deliberately avoided direct reference to Antique architectural
figures such as the nearby Roman arena and selected a triangular form to
address the different directions of the site next to the river Rhone . He orchestrated a free plan with ramps, pilotis
and skylights, and clad the exteriors in bright blue glass panels. He brought
the triangle alive by extending abstract planes into the surroundings,
overlapping them at the corners in a way which created voids and incited a
pinwheel action. The Musée took a long time to complete but in retrospect
clearly belongs to a period when there was maximum support for modern
architecture in France :
the early Mitterand years which also saw the launching of the Parisian Grands
Projets. Ciriani’s work was rightly shortlisted for the European Mies van der
Rohe Prize in 1996. I recall
visiting the completed building in the summer of 1995 and writing a short piece
about it for Progressive Architecture. Ciriani’s Corbusian dogmatisms can be
irritating but here was a building of lucid spaces and well handled light which
merited respect and which I even published in the third edition of Modern
Architecture Since 1900 (1996).
But respect is exactly what the Musée and its
architect now lack. The catastrophic additions and demolitions underway have
been carried out without the slightest consultation with Ciriani – a slap in
the face anywhere, but a double insult and scandal in a country where
architectural creations are supposed to be protected by copyright and ‘droits
d’auteur’. By demolishing part of the façade at the northern corner and cutting
into the triangle, the architects of the Département (who seem to remain
anonymous) have done more than ruin a single piece of the scheme, they have
totally disrupted the overall form and its action in space. Imagine slicing off
a corner of the Villa Savoye for example, or smashing up a wing of the Petit
Trianon. The Sarkozy influenced media rather enjoy painting the picture of the
Midi, Marseilles
and the Bouches du Rhône as a land of gangsters and dealers, but they forgot to
mention that the land of banditism now extends into architecture. In the era of
bling bling vast sums are spent placing gold leaf on the gates at Versailles and on
exhibiting art market kitsch in the gardens there, but meanwhile modern
buildings are being ruined by clumsy official interventions in the provinces.
Wake up Frédéric Mitterand, Monsieur le Ministre de la Culture, the modern
architectural culture supported by your uncle Président Mittérand is under
threat and you need to do something about it! Those sacred principles of
patrimoine should apply to modern and ancient alike.
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