ABSTRACT

The disciplines of restoration have always recognized the value of the culture that led to the protection of the heritage in the XIX century, despite some concerns about the objectives and the actual results of the pioneering interventions of those architects considered, even today, the “fathers” of the restoration. Those interventions were aimed at eliminating the traces of the French Revolution, and were the expression of a complete acceptation of the principles of a new discipline – i.e. they were expressions of the orthodoxy in the newborn field of restoration, destined to become the model for successive philosophical, artistic, cultural orthodoxies even beyond the borders of France. However, a relevant part of the heritage either modified or damaged during the Revolution was not touched by the actions of restoration, and kept the traces of transformation and destruction caused by an ideology that had always been considered heretical by most of the clergy and that in the meanwhile had become heterodox even politically. An interesting question is whether preserving and enhancing these traces is still to be considered “heretical” or is instead “orthodox”, i.e. compliant with today’s respect of all ideological, religious or cultural manifestations of the past. On this basis, the contribution presents the results of a study which, through a survey in the central and southern regions of France, has identified various religious buildings still showing signs of revolutionary vandalism. The goal of the survey is a preservation and enhancement of this heritage not limited to individual emergencies but guided by a strategy and of orderliness over the territory.

Parole chiave/Key-words: Restoration, Orthodoxy, Heresy, Revolution