Techniques, Materials, and Restorations of the Dome in the Panthéon, Paris. History of the Building Site (1820-1830) and an “inner memory”

Abstract

In the building site of the ancient church of Sainte-Géneviève, after the consolidation of the piliers of the dome, a series of procedures, techniques, and savoir-faire took place. There is a voluminous testimony in the 19th century archive documentation. The reports, the devis, and the correspondence attest to the numerous interventions that have involved the dome of the Parisian Panthéon, revealing the complexity of its material history. After the repairs to the intermediate dome the connection between the new and the old archivolts of the arcs doubleaux supporting the dome was made.  Moreover, a cast iron walkway was designed while the lunette of the dome was enlarged. The removal of the large cross from the top of the dome with the replacement of a statue accompanies the long series of works and the spiritual transformation of the building that reflects the political changes underway.

The consultation of the archival material relating to the construction site of the nineteenth-century interventions revealed a fresco of aspects, skills, materials, and issues. It also reveals the diffusion of practices that assume evolving cultural meanings of architecture in concomitance with the economic and political changes.