The architectural heritage of France—local, regional, national, European—is part of what makes this the world’s number one tourist destination and what makes Paris such as magnificent walking city. But should that architectural heritage be maintained at all cost? Does an insistence on maintaining and restoring old buildings risk stunting its growth and development? Or can an emphasis on maintaining that heritage coexist with the economic imperatives of the evolving city?
Every year on the third weekend in September France takes part in Europe Heritage Days, two days when historical buildings normally closed to the public are open and cultural assets are put on display. (Other countries may hold the event on other days.) On the occasion of the 27th annual Heritage Days, Sept. 18-19, 2010, France Revisited is posting here, with permission, one point of view on the subject.
Below is an open letter by Pierre Housieaux, president of Paris Historique, an association devoted to the preservation, restoration, and promotion of heritage sites in Paris and beyond. The views put forth in this letter, translated here by GLK, do not represent those of France Revisited. We present them here to give readers a glimpse of one side of an ongoing argument in Paris and wherever there are calls for preservation. Other views are welcome.
“Paris Historique” Rebels Against the Destruction of Certain Center Cities in Europe.
Prague, Budapest, Bucarest and Paris Threatened.
Paris Historique is delighted again this year by the great success that the 27th European Heritage Days will encounter in Ile-de-France [the Paris region] and Paris.
As every year, millions of people who love and are passionate about history, architecture, and secular traditions will take to the paths of our cities, towns, and villages to admire sites and monuments that our associations have the task of preserving, restoring, or simply bringing to life in the taste and rhythm of our time.
This doesn’t mean, however, that I am writing to cry victory or to say that we can be self-satisfied with the results obtained. In 2010, again and often, numerous public and private properties have decided on the destruction or “reconstruction” of numerous jewels that are also worthy of general recognition.
In Paris, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, and Stuttgart in particular, and throughout Europe in general, sites and entire sections of our cities are disappearing or will soon disappear in favor of irrelevant economic operations, even for petty personal interests.
To cite but a few:
– the Jewish quarter of Budapest,
– entire blocks within historical sections in the heart of Prague,
– the city of Bucarest, where there no longer apply any serious rules of urban planning,
– the demolition of the Stuttgart train station,
– and here in Paris the scandalous destruction of the block (workshops and ship testing tanks in particular) built by the Perret brothers on boulevard Victor [15th arrondissement], the uncertain future—despite reassuring pronouncements—of the Hôtel de la Marine, place de la Concorde, and all the abusive and tolerated renovations of noble mansions in the Marais and in the Faubourg Saint Germain, among others.
We therefore take the opportunity of these days of celebration of our heritage to recall that the situation is degrading and that it is now truly urgent, as in the 1960s at the time of the creation of protected sectors in France, for European public opinion to react and voice its profound disagreement with the current policy or rather non-policy of preserving our memory.
We ask that the European Parliament take up these important matters and vote an exemplary, supranational law taking into account the preservation and highlighting of heritage at a time when the situation, particularly economic, is especially difficult and when too many arguments “of necessity,” all too often random and illegitimate, tend to relegate the defense of national heritage to the background, and even to contest that defense.
Information and an online petition are accessible on the site www.patrimoine-heritage.eu.
We count on your support.
Pierre Housieaux
Président of Paris Historique
Paris Historique, 44-46 rue François Miron, 4th arrondissement, Paris. Metro Saint Paul. Tel. 01 48 87 74 31.
Original letter in French translated by Gary Lee Kraut for exclusive use on France Revisited®.
The risk of saving architecture at all cost can affect the natural growth of a city and risk turning it into a soulless museum, but it’s nice to know that there are people out there who are thinking twice before letting in the bulldozers.
Thanks.