Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emanuel |
| ARCHITECT (FRANCE) |
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BORN 27 Jan 1814, Paris - DIED 17 Sep 1879, Lausanne, Vaud: La Vedette GRAVE LOCATION Lausanne, Vaud: Cimetière de Bois-de-Vaux, Route de Chavannes 2 (section 18, concession 101) |
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Viollet-le-Duc was the son of a civil servant. His father collected books and his mother had a salon that was visited by Stendhal and Sainte-Beuve. In 1830 he took part in the July Revolution and he refused to enter the École des Beaux-Arts. He worked at the office of the architects Huvé and Leclerc. During the 1830s in France the restoration of medieval buildings received more attention than before. In 1835 Prosper Merimée ordered him to restore the abbey of Vézelay. In 1840 he became inspector of the restoration of the Sainte Chapelle. The restauration of the Nôtre Dame in Paris made him well known all over the country. He added a third tower to the Nôtre Dame and made other modifications. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 he was involved in the defense of Paris and in later years he idealised this struggle in his writings. Politically he was a republican after the war. His thoughts on artillery complied with the way France would use it during the First World War. In his later years he moved to Lausanne, where he built the villa La Vedette (1874-1876) that doesn't exist anymore. He is remembered there by a plaque in front of the Scottish church that he had built there. He also restored the Nôtre Dame de Lausanne. In 1879 he died in Lausanne and was buried at the Cimetière-de-Sallaz. When that cemetery was cleared during the twentieth century his remains were transferred to the Cimetière de Bois de Vaux. Related persons • was a friend of Mérimée, Prosper • worked for Napoleon III Bonaparte |
| Images |
 The grave of Eugène Viollet le Duc at the Cimetière de Bois de Vaux, Lausanne. Picture by Androom (05 Dec 2007) |
Sources • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 • Eugène Viollet-le-Duc - Wikipedia (EN) |
